


Autobiography of a Legend

by BionicStars



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Autobiography, Character Study, Gen, Metafiction, POV First Person, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Recontextualization, Reflection, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-01-16 11:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 48
Words: 209,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21270155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BionicStars/pseuds/BionicStars
Summary: Lloyd Garmadon, the famous Green NInja and savior of Ninjago, decides he wants to write his own Autobiography. He sits down with Zane and decides to analyze his life through his book. He comes to realize something: his life wasn't exactly great to begin with.





	1. Prologue

Sometimes, I like to think that Morro had a point.

I don't mean that I want to curse all of Ninjago, in fact I want the exact opposite of that. Ninjago is a great place. I love Ninjago and I love the fact I was able to grow up within it. No, what I mean is what those things in Cloud Kingdom said. They said that Morro defied destiny, and wanted to strike back at it. Destiny dealt him a bad hand, and he was turning that hand right back on Destiny.

I thought of that the other day. Kai finally taught me how to play poker so I could join in with the rest of them. I wasn't doing very well at all. I didn't know that my hands were and so I ended up folding nearly every round out of fear that I would lose. Sometimes that was a good idea. Other times it turned out I had a great hand. I was out first, and soon it came down to Cole and Zane. Zane has the best poker face out of all of us… well, he can literally deactivate his facial features if he wanted to, or that's what Jay said. Cole was nearly out and went all in to save himself. He ended up having three in a row, while Zane had nothing. But somehow, Cole kept a straight face the entire time. Not enough to say that he was in trouble, or that he had anything. He managed to trick Zane and get enough to end up staying in the game for almost another ten minutes.

I wonder if that was what Morro did. When he first ended up in the Cursed Realm, how did he manage to get to the point of being the one the Preeminent sent to Ninjago? Did he use the few skills he had to claw his way to the top of the ghost totem pole? I don't know. But seeing Cole remain perfectly straight faced even when he knew he could loose everything, it reminded me of Morro's conviction when we fought atop Ronin's shop. That conviction to stay in the fight as long as possible, even if it meant that he could be out for the count at any point. And somehow, he managed to defy Destiny.

According to Master Wu (who I will have words to say about later), this was because someone in Cloud Kingdom rewrote Morro's destiny for him. But I never believed that. I mean, how would Morro even contact someone there when he was dead? And why would they agree to do that? If I learned anything from people like Nadakhan and Chen, people will only act if they get something in return. So, why would they do that for Morro? Then again the whole back door thing always confused me. I was out of it just enough that I never saw how we got there. It almost felt like we just were there to make my friends' job harder…

I digress. When I watched Cole win that game, I wondered about destiny. Which is weird, I know, it was a game between friends that had nothing to do with that sort of thing. But I began to wonder about my own destiny. About how I became the Green Ninja, forced into fighting my father, then watch him mutate until I had to become the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, only to have that power taken away from me by force by the very thing that mutated him. I think onto how Chen forced me to banish my father, and then Morro's actions made me sacrifice him. So much of my life revolved around my father, and it wasn't even until the Time Twins that what happened to me wasn't a direct result of something associated with my father's actions (technically he did fight them in the past, but because of my dad's sacrifice the Cursed Realm entered Ninjago and Clouse escaped, which Jay later put together to explain why Nadakhan was released in the first place; what happened with the Time Twins wasn't a result of something my father had done recently, I mean.)

When I think of all of that, I realize that I might have been dealt an even worse destiny than what Morro got.

I don't regret become the Green Ninja. I don't even regret giving away what was left of my Golden Power to help my friends re-awaken their own powers. But when I realize what happened to me in my life that got me to that point, and what happened afterwards, I start to understand that everything that happened to me was in a way tragic. If you gave someone the finer points of my life, without telling them how I got there, I would sound like something out of a movie. In fact, I'll do it now:

Fated by destiny to one day have to destroy his father. Abandoned by his mother at a young age as she tried to find a way to prevent that destiny. Raised to idolize his father even as he was told he would never be like said father. Raised an army that turned on him to try to be like his father, and then told that his actions could completely destroy all of Ninjago. Finds his mother by chance one day only to realize she doesn't feel sorry for what she did to him. Then forced to spend months trying to avoid his father at every given turn, only to be forced to destroy his father when the embodiment of evil mutates him and suppress his father's spirit. Then, after resigning himself to killing his father, is given that father back purified. Then is forced to banish his father to stop an invasion after only getting little more than a year with him. And after that, having to murder his father to stop another invasion that would have corrupted all of Ninjago.

I really begin to wonder what it is my life is. I fought for so long to save my father, then had to banish him. Everyone around me pushed me towards that. They all told me I had to, that if I didn't Ninjago would suffer. And I believed them. In a way I still believe them. But I look back on my destiny, and I start to wonder whether or not Morro saying that destiny was something to be defied, was right. Was I right to do anything that I did? I don't know. And I don't know if putting this all down to page will help me, but I hope that maybe, in some way, it will.

This is the story of Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, Green Ninja, Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, Golden Ninja, Master of Energy, student of Master Wu, leader of the Ninja, and son of Lord Garmadon.

Lloyd slowly exhaled, placing his hands into his lap. He adjusted himself in the wooden chair, looking towards Zane sitting down in front of him. Zane's robotic hand stopped scribbling down words at an inhuman pace on the pages of an empty book, leaving the first few pages filled with words. After Lloyd failed to speak for several seconds, Zane looked up.

"I assume that is the end of the prologue?" Zane asked decidedly, "I feel that is an appropriate length for an introduction."

"Yeah, I don't have much more to say," Lloyd shook his head, "Thanks again for helping me out with this, Zane. Saying it all out loud helps me get my thoughts down before they change. We can go through and edit this all later."

"I have no issues assisting a friend in their endeavours," Zane smiled gently, "Though, may I ask a question about this book?"

"Hmm? Sure," Lloyd cocked his head, "What about it?"

"The tone you are currently establishing, will this be what you use for the rest of the book?" Zane tapped the page with his pencil, "Correct me if I am wrong, but did you intend for this to be slightly… combative?"

"Uh… well, maybe…" Lloyd rubbed the back of his head, "I have, a lot of things I want to get off my chest. I have problems with a lot of the things that happened to me. Is there anything wrong with just, you know, talking about those problems?"

"Not at all," Zane shook his head, "Discussion of those topics is often a proven way to reduce stress. What I believe I meant to say, was that this tone you have taken here is not quite what you sound like when talking to me or others."

"Well, isn't that the point of this?" Lloyd waved his hand, "I mean, it's just a book. I'm getting my real thoughts out I can't say to others! Is that a bad thing?"

"Again, I do not wish for my comments to be criticisms," Zane shook his head, "I just would like to know for the future. Shall we move onto Chapter 1?"

"I think we can get another chapter done tonight, yeah!" Lloyd smirked, "Alright, Chapter One, The Boy That Life Forgot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this has been an idea that has been knocking around in my head for a long while. I'm writing this as just a side thing that can pop into my head. I was inspired by some of my friends asking me what I thought of Lloyd's story in show, and it got me thinking about what Lloyd would think about his life, given how much has happened. 
> 
> This isn't meant to demonize anyone in show, but rather to just give a new perspective to it all. These are more or less my rambling thoughts personified through Lloyd, so if anything seems off, part of that is because I wanted to capture that idea of someone getting their thoughts out without much thinking behind them. I hope that you all enjoy regardless! Please follow my tumblr for updates on my fics! https://bionicstars.tumblr.com/ Thanks for reading, and NINJA-GO!


	2. The Boy That Life Forgot

Master Wu has said in the past that we can trace almost everything back to its roots. For me, those roots would be Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys.

I can't say that I like my mother's decision to leave me there. I understand now why she did it… and I'm sure that one day if I have kids of my own that I'd understand even more. I used to think leaving me with Wu would have been a better option, but as I've grown up I realize that he would have likely just trained me like he did Morro. Regardless of if it would have been better or not, I sitll think at the time it would have seemed like the better option.

I _can_ say I somewhat get why she picked Darkley's Boarding School. I didn't remember a lot about my dad, but I would always be defined by him. In some way, making me want to grow up to be like him would help me not want to fight him. I can understand her if her goal was to make me want to not want to fight my father. Even if it backfired, I think I get it.

That doesn't mean I agree with anything that she did. From day one, I was bullied. If it wasn't for Brad trying to teach me how to handle myself then I likely wouldn't have been able to keep my chin up. Being in a school meant to teach you how to be evil works like that. Actually, now that I think about it, Brad was actually doing the opposite of what he should have done, given that helping those under you wasn't something they normally taught. Unless he was trying to take on an underling, in which case it almost worked.

In Darkley's, I always felt like I wouldn't go anywhere. No matter how hard I tried to be bad, nobody took me seriously. I was just a nice kid. I always wanted to help people around me secretly, even if I knew that it wasn't the right thing to do. I actually don't remember now whether or not we actually did any lessons; the teachers were usually always busy. Which… could likely mean they were always tied up. But I know that I was given tests by the other kids, and I always failed them. Eventually I was turned out because I didn't have the, "amoral ambition to become one of tomorrow's masterminds" or something like that.

That wasn't to say that I didn't learn a lot of things in Darkley's, oh no. The other ninja can attest that I learned a good amount. Oddly enough, when you're a big symbol and everybody expects things of you, you can get away with a lot of things. Lloyd wouldn't mess with the laundry, oh no Lloyd wouldn't try to flip through the exams. I think some of that was from the fact they always saw me as never good enough to be bad. And, I guess they were right. But that wasn't to say that I didn't try as hard as I could to be evil!

Looking back on it, it's a very murky time in my life. I don't remember much at all from before Darkley's school. I don't even remember what Misako used to look like. She gave me away so early that I can't recall the image of her face. I used to have a photo of my father somewhere with me, but I don't now. I drew markers on it to look like what the stories said he looked like. I always used to wonder how the battle between him and Wu went down over the Golden Weapons. We actually made fake weapons out of cardboard and duct tape, painted them yellow and we'd fight over them to try to act it out. We eventually came to the conclusion that Wu lost and then used something underhanded to win. It turns out we weren't that wrong.

My own mother forgot me. I think that's one thing that I feel whenever I try to look back on my time in that place. I just feel the sorrow when all the other students would have their parents, or grandparents, or anybody visit them. We still did parent teacher conferences. I'd always have to go to mine alone and be told how I was too nice. There was no parent there to fight for me, to ask for what I could do to get better, nothing. I never had anybody. And that to me was the most painful thing about my entire time in that school. Nobody wanted me.

Of course, getting thrown out hurt even more. I hated it when I was told to leave. It wasn't like I had anyplace to go. They tried to figure out where Misako was, but she was careful to hide where she was. It was actually my goal for the first few days to find her and tell her how bad a mother she was and show her I was so bad I got kicked out of the school! Like, she left me there, so clearly she wanted me to be evil. What was more evil than being too much to handle for Darkley's? Of course, once I figured out I had nothing to go on, I just made my way around and bumbed my way until I actually reached Jamanakai Village.

I made my costume myself, actually. I felt proud of myself for carefully painting on all the ribs for the ribcage and try to hide the green 5 that the shirt came with. I think it was some sort of branded shirt, so I just tried to paint over it. It worked until it started raining and I realized that I hadn't let the paint dry. But I was still proud of what I made. I even stole a cape and cut it down to wear it properly. I had it all planned out in my head!

Of course it never worked. I was just a boy that the world forgot. It didn't matter how scary I tried to look, or what I said. Most people thought I was lying saying that _Lord Garmadon_ was my dad. People would look at me, they'd laugh, and then they'd move on. That's how it always went. I never was taken seriously. Even the Ninja thought of me as just some sort of joke. I just wanted candy and some recognition. I wanted to be seen as the bad guy! It was so much easier back then, before I had to worry about the fate of Ninjago. Because I was forgotten so quickly, it wasn't like anyone had any time to let me worry about anything other than food.

I wasn't exactly starving out there at least. I stole the lunch money of all the kids before I left. I was only out of the school for a week or so, but it felt like way longer. The Ninja thought I escaped. I wish I had, then at least I'd have the ability to say that I did something to warrant getting taken out like that. They weren't exactly nice to me. (Come on guys, stringing me up on a sign? You could have at least called Wu.)

The worst part of it all was the fact that nobody cared. I wanted to have nothing more than to be taken seriously. I wanted to be Garmadon's son! I was the son of the person who had nearly destroyed all of Ninjago! I could have warranted at least a little fear! But no, because I was put in a school that told me I'd never be evil, I had to then try my hardest to be evil. Which, now that I think about it, is why I unleashed the Serpentine. I just wanted to be evil. I just wanted to be like my dad.

But… that didn't happen. I would never be my father. Even now, with all this power and fame, I'm not half the man my father was. Ninjago may only really remember him for being evil and then good for a little while, but I will never even manage to be maybe…. 15% of the man that he was when he was good. Even when he was evil, he was better than me. I… I just one day hope that I can make him proud of me, even if he's gone.

The only person that I knew never forgot me was my dad. Back then, even as I felt that everyone had just stopped caring about me, I held onto the hope that my dad hadn't. And, since he wasn't there, nobody could ever say that he didn't. And that was what kept me going. I wanted to be like him, to make him proud. If he cared about me, then, he clearly wanted me to be something. If he was evil, then he wanted me to be evil too. I couldn't think anything else, because nobody told me to think anything else. I never had the chance to be told that I was thinking the wrong way.

I remember one moment that really sticks out to me. I think I'd just gotten to an old village, and everybody was so nice to me. I got food, water, and a nice bed to sleep in. It'd been weeks since i'd gotten into a bed. And for some reason, I wanted to tell them the truth. They had to know they were housing an evil boy, right? That I was the son of Lord Garmadon! And I told them all, I told them everything and I tried to get them to fear me.

But, they never did fear me. Instead, they only tried to take me in. One of them offered me the room of one of their children that had gone off to live in Ninjago City. They said that I could live there in the village, and that'd be that. That I'd never have to worry about traveling around looking for my dad again, and that I didn't have to keep saying who I was.

For some reason, I got angry at them. I wanted them to get upset with me, to throw me out even! I wanted them to tell me to get away! I wanted them to, to tell me that I couldn't be there! They never got angry. And I couldn't understand. I just wanted to be feared. They wouldn't. And so… I ran away. I ran away that night and didn't look back. I tried to steal some money but, I couldn't.

That's just it. No matter how hard I wanted to be evil, I think a part of me always knew that I wouldn't ever be accepted as evil. I'd always just be a child in everyone's eyes as long as they saw me. That's why I went off and did the horrible things that I did. I unleashed the Serpentine and sparked up the war all over again. I nearly made Ninjago get consumed by the Great Devourer and nearly killed people. I teamed up with things that nobody should ever have. I let Pythor trick me, I let the tribes out, I let it all happen. I did so many things.

But that's the thing. I just wanted to be seen. I was forgotten and I just wanted to be seen. That was me. That was always me. The boy that life forgot.

I suppose a lot of my readers wonder what it is that I felt when I let out the Serpentine. As far as many of the records go, I stumbled my way into the Hypnobrai tomb, opened it unknowingly and then started the Serpentine Wars all over again. The truth was… I don't think I was feeling anything. The thing is, when I look back on that day, I don't remember much about it.

I remember opening the tomb, finding Slitheraa (yes the Serpentine have names outside of their leaders) and then accidently gaining myself an army. Honestly, it was such dumb luck that Slitheraa actually backed me into the ice and let me take him over. If it had gone any other way, I don't think I'd be the Green Ninja today. Given that Pythor wanted to eat me, I still wonder whether or not the other tribes had the same thing in mind. Getting me to just stand still would make me a good snack.

When I attacked the village, all I wanted was to show them that I meant business. Hurting anyone wasn't entirely on my mind, but it was something I told myself had to happen. Letting the Serpentine hurt the Ninja though, that was different. I mean, they were the Ninja after all, they had driven my dad away. They had to be defeated. Of course, being shown up by them stung, and I remember the anger of wanting them to just go away and let me do my thing.

The thing is, when I think about what I was thinking at the time, I don't remember much. In fact, aside from the standout feelings of emotion, I don't remember much at all. I can feel the joy of getting a new army, the happiness of getting what I wanted from Jamanakai but, that was really it when I think about it. I just remember that I was wanting some attention. But I felt nothing more profound than that, I didn't think of anything that went deeper than 'look at me, you stupid ninja!' Heh, I think I was always a good kid deep down, even if I didn't want to admit it.

Of course, when I learned that I was going to be feared for the fact that I had the Serpentine, I was so happy. I was going to be seen finally as the evil Lloyd Garmadon. I was going to be seen as Ninjago's next evil doer and maybe rival my father! Why I decided to go and make a treehouse right afterwards… well, that was a tactical error I guess. Nowadays I would have just made Jamanakai my headquarters and worked from there. If I started there I'd have way less issues with getting supplies. And since the town was already established I could have used the people there are a sort of shield, nobody would dare attack if the people were still there.

...I, uh, well let's move on from that.

Being betrayed by Skales, that was what stung most of all. It wasn't like Slitheraa was really that big of a friend to me, I was kinda just using him to get the others to do what I wanted. And that was good enough for me. But it was the fact it was so soon after I had just gotten what I wanted that burned. I stole the map, yes, but I didn't want to leave the Serpentine. I didn't want to be thrust out of the tribe that I had under my control. They were my army! My dad wouldn't let his army get out of his control!

Part of me probably should have realized trying to control the Serpentine by simply getting in with their leaders wasn't going to work. I wanted to conquer Ninjago, but I didn't want to and hurt people to do it. I hadn't heard of the previous Serpentine Wars much in school, mainly because I didn't really get much education at Darkley's. Wu had to pick up a lot of that, and when I had my age jump I had to really rush to catch up. But, I got off point. I should have realized a race known for their ability to wage war wouldn't let me just mindlessly command them for long. I… didn't, and a big part of me regrets that.I never did. It would have saved me from ever thinking of letting out Pythor.

I remember one thing that Kai said, very vividly: "What were you thinking?!" I can't really figure out why that one moment sticks out to me, since Kai says a lot of crazy things and says most things with a pretty out there tone too. It was right after I'd been betrayed by Pythor and I was taken on board the Bounty. While I was waiting in a room, with Wu preparing something for me, Kai came by and said that to me. It wasn't like he was trying to lecture, and I think he was just passing by the room. But I can see his face as he said it, and when he did, I felt something that I hadn't felt yet: shame.

Having grown up being told that I was going to be evil, feeling shame was something I had never even thought of before. But there I was, waiting for what I assumed was going to be the biggest punishment of my life up to that point, and I felt bad. Something about the way that Pythor did it to me, it felt deeper than what happened with Skales. Skales had at least let me leave. When Fangtom did the same thing, that one I could kinda get too. But Pythor… it ran deeper than that. I had made a friend, someone that I thought cared about me, and then… then it was over.

Pythor, I still wonder where he is. It isn't easy trying to keep tabs on him every since the incident on the Day of the Departed. I wish I knew what happened to him. That isn't to say that I care about him, oh far from it. I just want to be able to show him that I've moved past what he said I was always going to be just a little kid.

The fact that the Serpentine forgot me right after they cast me out though, that stung. Pythor seemed like he couldn't care less for me once he got what he wanted. The only reason he took me captive was because the Ninja wanted me. He was more than happy to leave me to die in that volcano too. I was just something to be cast aside again, something that everyone did. They just forgot me.

One thing that I've seen, and Cole has told me he's seen it too, is that people mistake not wanting to be 'forgotten' for wanting to be 'remembered.' I don't think it was like that with me. It wasn't that I wanted to make my name in the middle of history at that time. I just wanted to be treated with some respect. I wanted to be feared. Even if it meant it was just for a short while, I wanted to be on the same level as my father. I mean, sure, being apart of history was somewhat part of it, but it wasn't just that. I just wanted them to all remember me. I wanted them all to just, to care about me. Because it wasn't like my mother did.

Of course, once the ninja took me in, I wasn't forgotten anymore, and in a way I got what I wanted. I was going to become the Green Ninja, and that was that. I was going to fight my father, and I was going to become the hero of Ninjago. Nobody could stop thinking about me when that happened.

I wish destiny wasn't such a drag.

"Drag?" Lloyd cocked his head, "Zane, what's with that?"

"You've refrained from swearing this entire dialogue, Lloyd," Zane blinked innocently, "I believe it may be best for you to not do so for the remainder of our sessions."

"I mean… I guess your right," Lloyd shrugged, "I just, you know, figured it would give the end of the chapter that extra little punch."

"It would, but the readers will not see it that way," Zane narrowed his gaze, "I still wonder if this is perhaps the best way for you to vent your frustrations. Many readers will expect for you to be more...friendly to general audiences."

"I'm being very friendly!" Lloyd protested, "And look, we can go through and maybe edit some things. I know people have an expectation of me. I'm doing this to show them that it's not exactly easy to be the ideal ninja."

"I offer only advice, never demands," Zane raised his hands, "I also took the liberty of securing you a recording device as well."

Zane reached out, handing Lloyd what looked like a squished pen. Lloyd picked it up, staring at it for a minute.

"Uh, thanks Zane but, why do I need this?" Lloyd nevertheless slid the device into his pocket.

"In case you feel the need to record your thoughts outside of our sessions; for example, Cole mentioned that he could not help but hear you practicing your words in the shower," Zane smiled, "I have made the device waterproof as well."

Lloyd went bright red and put his hand over the little device. Zane stood up and exited the room, leaving Lloyd to slowly sigh as he called out, "Thanks, Zane!" He turned, "...Do I really get that loud in the shower…?"


	3. The First Worst Day of My Life

Now, I know that the name of the chapter could be somewhat confusing. After all, it implies that I've had multiple 'worst days of my life' before. I know saying 'worst' implies I'm picking one day from my life to single out. But I'm sticking with it, because well, it often feels like I can take my life and parse it into smaller stories each with their own worst day.

Of course, to talk about that day, I have to discuss something that happened very soon after I was taken in by the ninja: I was captured.

As much as I find it almost infuriating exactly how annoying that fact is, it was entirely my fault. Of course the first thing I did when I got bored was decide to sneak onto a Serpentine bus and go straight to their headquarters. Looking back on it, the plan I used wasn't that much different from what Zane used to get into the Sons of Garmadon. Both of our plans were so similar in fact, I would say that if I hadn't dropped my miracas, I would have most definitely at least lasted until the end of that ceremony. I would have actually pulled off that dumb plan.

Oh, and before I continue with that, I think that I should bring up what I was doing before I was caught. I told Zane originally that I had washed his suit over and over again until it turned white again. I actually got a spare suit from Wu and simply gave that to him and sold the Pink suit to a collector. I know Zane has gotten questions about this before after that collector started showing off that suit. For a few of the readers that wonder why I did that in the first place, I was an immature child who, as I spent the last chapter detailing, wanted attention more than anything else. I was on a pranking spree with all the ninja for the stay I had with them before it was back to being around snakes. The suit actually was actually me making an intentional accident with the laundry, but it worked out for me in the end.

Now that's out of the way, let me go ahead and get back to me being caught. Kai had just dropped me off at an Arcade to go hunt for Samurai X -who was Nya at the time- and of course it just so happened some Serpentine were nearby and traveling to Ouroborus. So I nabbed a nice snake disguise and hopped on the bus. The key element of my disguise was the maracas I constantly let bounce to help sell I was a snake. Solid plan.

When we got there, I ended up in the stands of watching Pythor vie for the title of Snake King. I don't fully understand it, but it looked like a big Slither Pit, which I did understand. I think I was the only one that noticed Skales throwing the match for Pythor, but that might have been because I was so angry at Pythor I wasn't paying attention to him. I think my original plan had been to see what was going on, go home to the ninja and then rub it in their faces that I had done something they hadn't. Of course, then I had to go and drop those dumb maracas while everyone was cheering for Pythor's victory.

Being captured by the Serpentine wasn't as bad as a lot of the ninja assumed it was. I think Pythor was so appalled that I'd so easily infiltrated their ceremony that he kept me alive at first out of spite towards me. Once he got his hands on the map to the Fangblades, the reason for keeping me alive changed. But I was given food when I complained enough, and Pythor didn't dare let any other Serpentine touch me. Only he and Skales were allowed anywhere near me.

The only time I've heard Skales laugh was when he visited me the night of my capture. He thought it was hilarious that I'd been thrown out of the Serpentine three times but still came back for more. That ignored the fourth time I wasn't there to try to make friends, but whatever. I thought Iwas being mature in telling him that, but I think it only made him laugh harder. I just remember he said I was lucky that Pythor hated me so much, or else I wouldn't have been around. Later when I learned more about the Anacondrai, I realized he had been right.

Pythor, however, wasn't angry with me when he talked to me. In fact, he sounded as amused as Skales was. I'm not sure why he was, but it seemed like he pitied me, and keeping me alive was almost his way of indulging that pity. I was a kid at the time, though, so to me it just looked like two guys came into my cell to laugh and gloat at me. Which, they were, but it was for different reasons.

Now, I wasn't really doing that much when the ninja came to rescue me. Pythor insisted that I be around him at all times as a symbol of something or other. I think he just wanted to humiliate me by keeping me in a cage. It worked, especially after I saw that the ninja had come to rescue me. I'd caused them so much trouble, but they came to rescue me anyways. It was touching, if a little insulting that Samurai X didn't attempt to save me when they were there. I mean, I was right there, Nya, you could have easily just grabbed me or at least acted like you wanted to.

I wasn't a prisoner for very long, I think perhaps two months at most. Like I said, they kept me fed and didn't try to lay a hand on me. Once it was clear Samurai X and the ninja were allied together, Pythor's priority shifted from gloating to keeping me as insurance the ninja wouldn't just launch another attack on him like that. It certainly worked, even if at times I wondered what exactly his plan was with sending me after the Fangblade in that old pyramid. I don't even know how he got to me after I triggered literally every trap, but I was so relieved to still be alive after all of that I couldn't care less how they did. Skales eventually just there to get me and carried me back to my cage.

Now, one thing I should say is that while I was kept as a prisoner, Skales and Pythor continually talked to me. A lot of the time, Pythor was just there to gloat. He'd tell me about his plans and how he was going to get back at Ninjago. He told me about how his people had been strong and powerful -which I can attest personally, they were- and how he was getting revenge on them for locking them away with no food or chance to survive. (Although since Snakes are cold blooded, I wonder how Skales and the others survived in a tomb made literally of ice?)

I think in a sense, he was trying to impress upon me that nobody was coming to save me. He wasn't entirely wrong, since it wasn't until my dad came back the others made any headway whatsoever into getting me back. Given that the last thing I'd done to the ninja was prank them and drive them crazy, I was also worried that perhaps them trying to save me was just a fluke. It wasn't like they gave me books or games to play in my cage, so I had to often times either listen to the two of them, or just wait around until I died of boredom.

Skalees, strangely, seemed like the more reasonable one of the two. I say strangely given the fact he was the first one to betray me and cast me out of the Hypnobrai. Pythor talked about his plan, but Skales told me about what he wanted. Being trapped in that tomb had given him plenty of time to think. It was through him I learned that the average Serpentine lifespan was far longer than a human. But he also said some interesting things. Namely, that he wanted to eventually make a place for the Serpentine to live. He wanted to fight, and it was for that reason he sided with Pythor, but ultimately he wanted to create a place where he could settle down, lead his tribe in peace and, oddly enough at the time, raise a family. Having met Skales Jr., I can tell he wasn't lying.

Spending those two months being dragged around only when Pythor wanted to use me for his Fangblade hunting quest was actually more boring than it was disheartening. I mean, I knew eventually Wu would want to rescue me, so even if I spent my time worrying that the ninja might not want me, I knew that one day Wu would try to save me. I mostly remember trying to talk to the guard that stood by my cage when Pythor wasn't there. Lasha actually was a pretty cool guy, all things considered. I mean, my poor attempts to persuade him to open the cage never worked, but at the very least he talked to me sometimes. Contrary to what some people think, Serpentine do all have names. I actually got to know a lot of them just by listening out of boredom.

The worst day of my life came on the last day of my imprisonment. Lasha had told me that Pythor was getting ready to go after the Fangblade in the Fire Temple. I'd never been there before, so I didn't have any idea of what to expect. The Serpentine had to bring extra water for me, since I wasn't used to the extreme heat. Actually, now that I think about it, Lasha was probably the one that kept giving me water.

I don't know how the ninja figured out that was where we were going. Pythor had wanted to use the Constrictai to go straight up into the Temple, but the pressure the heat of the volcano exerted was enough that we had to surface away from it. I wasn't worried so much about Pythor getting the third blade at the time, and more so worried about the fact that we were going into a volcano. I didn't know much about volcanos, but just entering the temple was hot enough I thought about ditching my cape. I didn't, because the look would have clearly been incomplete without it. I also think I never got to wash those clothes while I was captured either. I guess the burning heat masked a lot of it.

I wasn't paying much attention to what was happening on account of the fact that I felt like I was roasting alive inside my metal cage the entire time. The snakes were fine given their scales, but I wasn't. I eventually had to try to lay inside the center of my cage since the bars heated up so much it burned me through my clothes. I used to have a mark on my shoulder from when I fell against the side of the cage during what happened.

One thing that I should point out here, was that I had never seen my father before. I'd seen drawings of him and heard plenty about what happened to him, but I had never seen him before. When I saw him with four arms, I at first thought it wasn't him. But somehow, even if he looked different from what I'd seen, I knew it was him right away. And when I realized that my dad had come to save me… I'd never felt more happy in my entire life.

Of course, I wasn't happy for long. Pythor and the others retreated up the back exit to the temple, and in the process the snakes dropped me. I hadn't even realized what happened until I was falling. My cage fell into the lava that Kai had caused to start rising by using the Sword of Fire inside the temple. I later learned he'd been told specifically not to.

While I was sinking into the lava, I'd never felt so much fear before. I thought I was going to die. I didn't even see my father racing and fighting so desperately to get to me. I was trying as hard as I could not to sink into the lava. Of all my near-death experiences, that one is the one I remember the least about simply because so much more happened that day it gets jumbled together more than I can sort out.

When my dad did pull me out and hugged me, I felt like crying. I was so scared, relieved, happy and confused all at once. I remember dad telling me not to cry and to wait until I was safe to. We made our way back to the group, and I was all ready to go. I didn't think much on where my dad had come from, why he was there or what was going on. I just wanted to get out of there. And for a few moments, I was at that very point. I could have easily gone and just ran out with dad, and that would be that.

Then I saw Kai. I saw Kai, so desperate to go and prove himself he was willing to, by what I saw, kill himself trying to get the Fangblade even as the temple was about to erupt. As off putting and nasty the ninja had been to me while I was evil, how cold they were to me during my stay on the bounty, I felt scared. I didn't want anyone to die. It was my fault that they were there, and if Kai got hurt trying to get that blade… it'd be my fault. So I called out for him to try and get him to come back.

Looking back on my life, I believe the first time destiny attempted to assert itself on me was right there. The second I stepped forward to call to him, the ground under me collapsed. It didn't under my dad, or Wu, or the other ninja, only me. I was the one that fell. And if I hadn't fell, then Kai would never have found his True Potential, which would have meant he never learned the true identity of the Green Ninja. Destiny, it seems, was willing to put my life in danger just to show Kai what he needed to see.

In the moment, however, I was scared. I'd already nearly fallen in the lava, I didn't' want to again. But I knew Kai, and at that moment, I worried Kai could decide that the Fangblade was more important than me. When I called out to him for help, I wasn't trying to make a point to him. I was a scared little boy clinging to a sinking piece of rock and thinking this was going to be my last day alive. I wanted… I wanted to go home. And when he hesitated after I begged him for help, I was afraid that he was going to let me die.

I think Kai's choice at that moment is why of all the ninja, I grew closest to him first. It's easy for people to think that Kai is all inside his own head and doesn't think of anyone else. But at that moment, Kai was willing to give up his duty as a ninja, his own pride and his chance at finally proving he was the Green Ninja to rescue me. When he came over and grabbed me, it was like everything I knew about him suddenly made sense. We were going to climb to safety, but that was when the volcano erupted.

Part of me fully expected to die in that one moment. I saw the orange light and suddenly my body felt light. I wondered if that was what dying feels like -it does not- and if that was it. I'd seen my dad once before I died, and Kai had chosen to rescue me. Maybe that was how it was supposed to all end.

But we weren't dying. We were flying. Kai's True Potential was just like Wu would describe it: the fire inside Kai was enough that no flame could ever hurt him again. And he gave me that protection as we rode the explosion of the volcano out and to the Bounty. Kai chose that day to put his life ahead of mine, and it was the moment I realized that the ninja truly cared about me. I wasn't just a bratty kid that they were looking to get rid of. They… they were my family.

When we got back to the Bounty, I didn't think much about Kai collapsing. I ran right into my dad's arms, and cried. I cried for at least ten minutes. I was so scared, having almost died twice, having been left for dead, and just being so confused as to why he was there. He didn't ask for anything from me, and instead he just let me cry. I think the others realized I had to be alone, and they left me to cry into him. I let my hood get wet, I didn't notice my cape was singed or anything. I just wanted to be with my dad at that moment, and he let me.

Destiny, however, wouldn't let me have that happy moment for long. When we all met up in the main control area to talk, Kai said he had something to say. When we got there, I finally had cleaned myself up enough to get a good look at my dad. When I asked him if it was really him, I remember my dad's eyes looked misty for a few seconds before he assured me he was. I just took the moments to be happy he came for me. All I could think to ask at that moment was why he had four arms. Everyone thought it was funny. I was just trying to voice the confused mess of… everything I was.

What Kai revealed next, was something that I hadn't ever considered. I'd never even heard of the prophecy before. I wasn't sure what was going on, and what it was that Kai was talking about. I wasn't even really thinking when they put those weapons around me. I was just standing there, trying to piece together what Kai was saying. When they started to glow and crackle around me… it was like my entire world stopped.

Something clicked in me that day. Something inside me told me that the days of being that little immature kid, were over. I was the green ninja, the one that was going to defeat the Dark Lord. None of us had any idea who that was, but there was only one other person in the room that fit that bill. I didn't know what it meant to be the green ninja, but I knew that it meant something important. From Wu's reaction, I knew that it was something important.

"The battle lines have been drawn, brother. Sadly, our family has only become more divided. Brother versus brother, and now, son versus father."

I will never forget those words. I will never forget the feeling of cold despair in my gut when I heard what was going to happen. I knew that from that moment on, I would never be able to be Garmadon's son again. I wouldn't be remembered as Lloyd, son of Garmadon. I would be remembered as Lloyd, the Green Ninja. In just those words, my entire life changed. Everything that happened to me from then on, was all because of this. I was the Green Ninja now. I was going to have to face and defeat my father. I was going to have to… to win.

After we all wondered what happened to the Fangblade -thanks to Jay blurting it out- I didn't do much else that day. It was already deep in the evening, and I just wanted to go and sleep. I went to the bed that Wu had shown me how stupid I'd been in, and I laid there for the rest of the day. At some point, I know I fell asleep. It didn't really matter, though. The only thing I could think of was the fact that now, I was going to have to face and perhaps… kill my father.

The first worst day of my life ended that night when I went to sleep no longer Lloyd Garmadon, but Lloyd Garmadon, the Green Ninja.

\---

Lloyd slowly exhaled, leaning forward in the stool. Zane looked to him with a bit of worry in his eyes, attempting to see what Lloyd was thinking. Lloyd took a few more breaths, looking as though he was attempting not to cry. When he looked up to Zane, his eyes were firm, but from his words, Zane could tell he sounded exhausted.

"I never knew you felt that way, Lloyd," Zane looked down, "We knew that you wanted to avoid fighting your father, but to think you felt it so early on…"

"It's fine, Zane," Lloyd smiled, "Just, saying it all out loud helps. It really does. It's, hard to talk about it to a therapist when everyone in Ninjago sees me as a hero for, you know, saving it."

"Yes, I can see where those issues lie," Zane nodded, "Do you see these sessions as therapeutic, Lloyd? I'm afraid that I was not programmed to actively help with psychological stress."

"It just helps talking, Zane," Lloyd smiled, "I'm going to do the next chapter on my own. I'll give it to you after I finish recording it, ok?"

"That is up to you, Lloyd," Zane pointed out with a smile, "I am happy that I can help you with your book."

"It's way easier to talk and go through it all later," Lloyd admitted, "I feel like when I try to write it down I get all worried if it all makes sense, and then I stop and try to think and then time just all goes by while I barely get anything done. When I'm talking it all just… comes out."

"Everyone expresses themselves through a different form, Lloyd. You simply appear to have a preference for auditory venues," Zane explained, "There is nothing wrong in that."

"Thanks," Lloyd stood up, "I'm going to go get dinner. Thanks again!"

Lloyd made his way out of the room. Zane saved the audio file in his memory banks and stood up, following after him. The two had many more sessions to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! I'm currently working on building up a backlog of chapters to post continually; for now I'll post chapters once I finish them! I should have them up at the very least once every other week! Hope you enjoy!


	4. The Time Between the Change

Whenever I tell people the story of fighting my father, I kinda fast forward through the Great Devourer. That's somewhat surprising, given how important it is to not only Ninjago as a whole, but a very important person later in my story. But, when I think about the battle with my father, the Great Devourer just seems more like it's not as connected as the rest of everything. It's important, just not as important as the rest.

Part of the reason is that right after the Devourer, my memory gets somewhat fuzzy. The ninja said they did something to the past that ended up changing a lot of what happened between the Devourer and the Stone Army. I remember one version of events, but those events often feel like I'm almost trying to give just the key points of what happened. How I was trained to become the Green Ninja… it confuses a lot of us. Even my dad refused to talk about it when I asked.

But before we get to that, we should get back to the Devourer. Pythor somehow recovered the blade from the volcano, somehow, and the Serpentine just vanished after it. They ninja got information from grabbing a Venomari off the streets. I wasn't involved, and I spent most of my time after my father had rescued me training on the dummies in the Bounty. Wu had reconstructed some equipment that would teach me Spinjitzu, and so I threw myself into learning it. If any of you reading this want to one day learn Spinjitzu… it takes a lot of getting knocked onto your face by spinning dummies.

Part of the reason I spent so much time training was to keep my mind off my father. My dad was still around on the Bounty, of course, but whenever I talked to him, we would never be able to do it for long before we remembered what Wu had said. We could hold small talk, but given enough time we'd both fall silent. Neither of us wanted to talk about it, especially when he had just rescued me. It seemed to seep into everything we wanted to do together, so we just ended up… not talking.

Training didn't give me time to think about that. It was easier to just, throw myself at the obstacle course and get thrown out. Each time I could make it a little further, and that gave me hope to keep moving. I think Jay actually said some video games are built that way, off you making tiny amounts of progress and you wanting to keep going as you master the parts you used to fail on. Only in video games, you don't end up with bloody noses after enough attempts.

Of course, the ninja, Wu and Nya were always busy, so I had to teach myself. I like to think now I've grown to be a decent teacher, but when teaching myself how to fight… I can see now why I wasn't ever even a threat to the ninja. Wu had told me if I could finish the course before a timer ran out, I would be able to do Spinjitzu. The best I'd gotten at my best was thirty seconds, and the timer was for seven.

When I wasn't training, Nya taught me how to fly the Bounty. It was honestly easier than it seemed. The Bounty was rigged to mainly just go up and down, so it was all about just adjusting for the wind. The computers often did that a lot, so I only had to handle just listening to them. I'm glad she did, since it meant I learned how to drive. My dad tried to show me how, but whenever he went to touch the Bounty's controls, the ninja would get him out of the room.

So, I came up with a plan to get back the Fangblades. After the ninja realized Pythor was already on his way to the last Fangblade, I suggested that we try to get back the other three by raiding the Serpentine fortress. It was a simple plan, if not somewhat ruined by the fact that the entire fortress was swarming with Serpentine. I don't know why the ninja were captured, and honestly, I still don't know. I wasn't paying attention to that.

Like I mentioned before, my dad was still living on the Bounty while all this was happening. I was making it a point to avoid him. I regret it now in hindsight, since it meant I wasn't getting to spend time with my dad when I really, really wanted to. But I couldn't look at him without my destiny coming back up in my head. I wanted to be the Green Ninja, sure, but I also wanted to have a dad. It seemed like, I couldn't have both. It hurt. It really, really hurt. I wanted to just go talk to him, but I couldn't. So, I wasn't in a good mood when I found him stealing secrets from the ninja.

It was somewhat funny that I told him he shouldn't be stealing, when literally less than a few months earlier I was demanding tribute from Jamanikai village and using Pythor for petty theft. Part of me wishes I could have gone back to that moment and said something different, but when I think about it, it ended up saving the ninja. Still, when I saw him stealing, I was upset. Not at him, but at what it meant.

When my dad said that he couldn't help it, that stealing was in his blood… I snapped. I snapped because it was almost like him saying he couldn't prevent me from having to fight him. None of us knew at the time who the 'Dark Lord' was, so Wu assumed it was my dad. I believed that too, and seeing him stealing, it was like him saying that he couldn't even hold himself back. If he couldn't hold himself back from this… how could I from fighting him? I knew about why he was like this, why this was happening, but I was upset it was as though he was saying, it wouldn't work. So, I told him to leave, and he did.

I didn't think about what I'd said to him. Instead, I put on a suit far too big for me, decided to try to practice my ninja moves (to anyone wanting to do flips and kicks, don't practice them on rocks, I still have marks) as I went to rescue them. I… really don't know what my plan was. I guessed part of me had thought if I went in gungho and told them to release the ninja, they'd be so afraid of me that they'd surrender. Given that I already knew Pythor was back from what Nya said, I really should have at least taken a sword. I guess it was me being a child. It was pretty childish to roll right into the middle of all of the Serpentine and then demand that the ninja be let go. If my dad hadn't showed up at that moment, everything would have probably been lost.

Now, you can say anything you want about the Skulkin. They're silly, ineffective, powerless against big enemies… but seeing them lined up behind my dad as he claimed to have brought an army to back me up, that was cool. It doesn't matter if you have an army that were beaten by a ferris wheel, having a massive army there to back you up is awesome. And for once, they actually did something too!

Once I freed the ninja, it was all about getting the Fangblades. The battle was somewhat a blur, but I remember that I saw Kruncha and Nuckal manage to body Skales which… was oddly cathartic, all things considered. Actually, seeing my dad steal the Fangblades from Pythor was impressive. It reminded me that my dad was the son of the First Spinjitzu Master and was strong enough to take on Wu in a fight. I would see even more of this later.

We won, of course, and escaped. I believe my dad said he told the Skulkin once we were gone they could retreat when they felt like it. I'm surprised they listened, given that my dad had murdered Samukai, but I didn't think much of it. I was more interested in the fact that right after the battle, my dad said he was leaving.

Now, I was a whirlwind of emotions at this point. My dad had come back into my life after saving me, I'd nearly died after getting to hug him for the first time ever, then I'd been told before I was even given time to talk to him much that I was going to have to fight him one day, and after spending time on the Bounty simply avoiding him out of fear of that, I'd told him to leave and now he was. The fact he was going to leave right then, right after we'd gotten the Fangblades, it stung. But… after everything else, it didn't sting as much as I thought it would.

Many of you know that Garmadon was the one that defeated the Great Devourer (a fact most news outlets continually attribute all to him even), so he wasn't gone for long. But for me, at that moment, it was a final goodbye. I thought that would be the last time I saw him. I didn't know where he was going, but given that Wu had been gone for awhile to go get him just to save me, I knew it wouldn't be a place I could visit. Then, he said something that, to this day, it makes me smile even if I'm crying:

"You're a good boy. Soon, you'll be a great man. Although we're now on opposite sides, I'm still very proud of you."

I'm not going to lie and say I didn't cry. I was broken up again. My dad had just told me even if one day I had to fight him, he was proud of me. I've heard stories of people having fathers that neglected them, but my dad had basically just told me no matter what I did, he'd be proud of me. And to this day… I'm still figuring out how to be that 'great man' he said I would be. I'm still figuring out what he wanted for me. After being emotionally wrecked so many times in one day, I was just unable to do anything else but smile at him as he left.

I realize now what that leaving meant. If my dad stayed, he would do everything he could to raise me. But if he did that, he could end up messing with destiny. I think my dad, better than maybe even Wu, understood what this destiny meant for me. If he was around for me, then he would make all of this even harder for me. After all, it's easier to fight someone you only see at their worst than someone you live with at their best. Even if he stole from the ninja, he never did anything but help me. By leaving, he was saying he was a villain and would stay that way. Given what happened later, I don't know if I could have done anything that I did had he not left.

After the party to celebrate our victory and a night of doing some reflection and getting little sleep, I ended up training again. We were on our way to Torchfire mountain to destroy the Fangblades. I hadn't even gotten close to mastering Spinjitzu, and after finding bruises in places I didn't even know could get them, I had started just punching things to pass time. It was at that point Pythor revealed he'd been on the Bounty the entire time and tied me up to prevent me from interfering.

I believe Wu called it 'hubris' that we decided to wait to go and destroy the Fangblades. We don't know when Pythor got on board, but if we hadn't taken the time to celebrate, maybe we would have destroyed them faster. Maybe Pythor would never have gotten them back, maybe the Devourer would never have awoken and… what came later would never have happened. I really don't know.

After I managed to stall Pythor for time after I got free, and even more satisfyingly kick him in the face, Pythor managed to get away with the Fangblades. After he did, I stayed behind on the Bounty while the ninja pursued them. From here on out, most of these events are ones that many of you have heard, so I won't dwell too long on them.

The ninja failed to get the blades in time and Pythor awoke the Devourer. I didn't see the snake emerge, but when the ninja came running as fast as they could towards the Bounty, I knew it was a threat. When I first saw the thing, it was like looking at a monster from an old movie come to life; I mean, I hadn't watched those old movies, but it felt like watching something unreal become real and try to eat you. We raced our way through the canyon as fast as we could, ditching things to go faster, but in the end the Devourer managed to destroy the ship and slink off to Ninjago City.

Seeing the Bounty bitten in half was heartbreaking, but it was also terrifying. While the ninja looked like they'd been punched in the gut, I was terrified about the fact we had just been on that ship a minute ago. It was horrifying to watch the sheer strength of a beast that had tried to eat us a minute ago. I was more afraid that I wouldn't see tomorrow rather than the fact I didn't have a home anymore. It was a different type of terror than when I was in the volcano; that was being in the moment of thinking I was about to die. Escaping death by the skin of your teeth is more like being completely stunned. You forget to do everything but breathe, and even then as the thoughts keep coming back of what just happened you can forget to breath too. Honestly, when Jay said we should go live in the Serpentine Tombs from now on, it wasn't half bad.

Given how terrified I was, I was somewhat spaced out for the rest of the events. Our plan was simple: use Kai's sudden stroke of genius -something which seems to be getting rarer now that I think about it- to build something to stand up to the creature. I watched the Ultra Sonic Raider battle that thing, and it ended up failing. Honestly using the sacred flute recording was smart. Seeing Zane with half his face gone was kinda freaky. It was that moment we learned of the weak spot we used to defeat it.

We split up, with Nya and I going to get the Mech to try to delay the beast, while the ninja fought it from the ground. We almost ended up getting swallowed trying. By that point I was so terrified of everything happening it wasn't that much more terrifying than what had happened already. The Ultra Dragon saved Nya and I from getting eaten, then was struck down from the sky like it was nothing. We were out of options, and Nya and I weren't going to be able to continue the fight. That was when he came back.

I know I fast-forwarded through some of this, but it's because of everything that happened, that was the moment that stuck with me the most. It's probably obvious, given that all of Ninjago remembers it, but for me it was another sign that my father cared about me. My dad was willing to come back, even if it was so quickly after leaving, to rescue me. The ninja insist that it was more his hatred of the Devourer, but to me, it was a sign that my dad was willing to work with the ninja. That, at least to me, was awesome.

That's not even mentioning what he actually did either. Nya had long since insisted that I start to watch everything from far, far away. My dad knows how to make an impression on people. I still wish that someone would teach me how to make the sky turn black like that, just so I could turn it green and use it for some big grand entrance. As terrifying as the darkness was, to see my dad holding the literal Golden Weapons, all of them, the things that were used to create the entire world all at once, was awe inspiring. He did something that day only he could do, and that, that was amazing.

Watching him fall towards the Devourer, gaining speed just so he could hit the Devourer even harder, I won't lie and say that I haven't tried to pull that off before. There's a reason now that I have forced myself to get better control on my dragon. I didn't hear when he hit it, but I heard the beast scream. Watching something so terrifying burst out into pieces, finally taken down, it was almost poetic. The beast that had turned my father into what he was today, my dad finally had his revenge on.

I rushed down towards where my dad had landed as fast as my legs could carry me, I even remember tripping over the sidewalk twice. But he wasn't there when I got there. The ninja were terrified that their weapons were gone, but I was almost hurt about the fact he left again. After two times of him leaving me in the span of a few days, you'd think that I'd be a little less hurt after the third, but I was a kid and had just watched my dad explode a giant snake. That sort of thing sticks with you, and makes you want to ask him a million questions.

Wu survived, somehow. As we later learned, Pythor had somehow been inside the snake longer, or at least deeper inside, despite having been eaten at the same time as Wu. Why Wu was the only one that didn't suffer any side effects was weird, but seeing him again was that breath we all needed. Knowing that he was safe, knowing we had all lived and that everything was going to be okay… you truly can't appreciate the fact of how terrified you are until you realize that you almost died multiple times and finally, it's all over. Our victory shout, in my eyes at least, was well deserved.

That, however, was the last time I truly was able to take my mind off my father. The ninja helped alleviate my post-adrenaline high by promising they'd train me and make me the strongest ninja they ever knew, even if it meant that I would have to fight my father. It was nice at the time, but I was left thinking later that night, the day after, and the coming week that now that Pythor was gone, the only threat we had to worry about was my father. Everything was going to come down to him.

From that moment on, I was no longer going to be just Lloyd. The time between the change was over. The change had begun, and I had officially begun my path to become none other than Lloyd Garmadon, the Green Ninja. The path to the final battle had begun.

* * *

"Did you plan those last few lines?" Zane asked with a snarky smile as Lloyd gave his wave to show he was finished.

"I uh, a little," Lloyd rubbed his neck, "I tried to do this one on my own but it didn't end up working out well. I kept going over parts and forgetting things. I mean, you'd think that having a giant snake literally try to eat you would make you remember things more!"

"This was a time directly between a revelation that changed your world view, and an acceleration of events that led directly into the Final Battle," Zane reminded Lloyd, "To refer to this as the 'time between the change' is more accurate than any other title I could write."

"Thanks, Zane," Lloyd stretched, "I think I wanna hammer out the next chapter tonight too. Maybe after dinner?"

"The next chapter… yes," Zane paused, "You are certain the words, 'Mega Weapon' mean nothing to you, yes, Lloyd?"

"Nope, like I said yesterday and the day before that, I've never heard of that or ever seen it before," Lloyd shook his head, "Why do you keep bringing it up?"

"Do you remember how you said your memory at this time was… fuzzy?" Zane grimaced, "A temporal anomaly during that time occured in with events were rewritten in a context that both relied upon and rejected the events that led up to it. Thus, I would suspect that while you may recall wider events, nuance may be lost upon you. Do you recall how it was that Captain Soto was revived?"

"Uh… no?" Lloyd paused, "It was… the venom, right..?"

"As far the rewritten timeline would suggest, yes," Zane paused, "What about your visit back to Darkley's Board School?"

"We were there for… something?" Lloyd rubbed his head, "I know you guys were fighting, something weird."

"That lapse in memory will make for an interesting recollection," Zane crossed his arms in his lap, "If you do have questions, do not be afraid to ask them."

"Uh… yeah, whatever you say, Zane," Lloyd shrugged, standing up and making his way out towards the door, "Oh, and Zane, do you think people are going to, like, hearing about all this?"

"Hrm…" Zane closed his eyes, "I believe they will be intrigued to learn more about you. You have become something of a paragon for Ninjago, to be shown that you have struggles that are on the levels of everyone else may cause people to reject some of this text. However, it is important that it be shown to them, if not for their sake, then for your own. I have already assessed your stress levels have begun to equate more with each of our sessions. I believe this is good for you, Lloyd."

"Thanks, Zane!" Lloyd pulled his hood up, "I'm going to go get some more training in before dinner, tell the others if they wanna join, they're free to!"

"If I see them, I will," Zane stood up, "I might join you later."

Lloyd smiled and rushed off towards the training equipment. Zane logged the latest entry and sent it to a backup server before walking after him, closing the door to yet another one of Lloyd's chapters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was not prepared for how much you guys would like this fic! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying my take on Lloyd and his life. I wanted to go into this with the intent not to demonize anyone, but simply to give the seasons a new perspective of a boy that was thrust into it all without much say in the matter. This has also given me a very good excuse to rewatch the first few seasons, which I didn't need but I appreciate. 
> 
> I'll begin posting these chapters weekly alongside Ninjaverse. I've already worked my way up through The Day Ninjago Stood Still while writing, so I'm eager to work on it more. I hope you all continue to enjoy!


	5. The Most Important Time I Can't Remember (Clearly)

So, there are two things about this chapter that I want to say first: the first thing is that I have never heard of the Mega Weapon, I don't remember my dad having it, and I don't even know what it is. The ninja and even my father have insisted that it existed, and Zane has even done tests to see if it is somewhere locked inside my memory. It isn't. So, if I mention the Mega Weapon here, I don't specifically remember it or what it did, so I might be kinda vague.

The second thing is that arguably, this chapter is one of the most important in my entire life. This was when I grew up. While physically I'm an adult, I think if I were to do the math of how many years the Tomorrow's Tea actually aged me up, I would be closer to a teenager. I'm not sure how long it was exactly, but I know that I was thrust right into the middle of puberty and was put far closer to the ninja age wise. It was my choice, so that's not to say I regret it at all. Just that the others have pointed out how young I am compared to them before.

To start, I don't blame Ninjago City for giving the credit for the Devourer to my dad. I mean, he was the one that actually killed it, so it makes sense that the news would say he was the one that did it. But the fact that the city wasn't willing to acknowledge how hard we fought it was honestly kinda cruel. I wouldn't have cared at all, really, if it hadn't meant we were officially homeless after the incident. The Monastery was gone (partially thanks to me) and the Bounty was eaten, so we have nowhere to go. What we ended up finding to live in was honestly… lame. I know I'd helped unleash the Devourer, but I'd also helped to stop it! At the very least, we should have had someone willing to give us a break!

I've asked Kai before where all the money from his blacksmith shop went, and according to Nya when the two had left to train with Wu, they'd shut it down but held onto the lease, using the money they had to repair the Bounty. Jay's parents didn't have any cash to spare, and while Lou was more than willing to give Cole a recommendation, he refused to give his son any money (and obviously we wouldn't ask Zane). The apartments we were shown were either too small, too scummy or too expensive. Given that there were seven of us to house, the ninja decided to go for the expensive one. It was nice, but apparently being a ninja master like Wu doesn't produce income. So, the ninja got jobs.

I didn't ask about the ninja's jobs, mainly because I'd tried to throw myself into training again. Wu managed to salvage some of the equipment from the Bounty for Spinjitzu, so I decided to throw myself into that again. After almost a month of getting thrown right back out of that same training course, I felt like I was finally getting closer. I wouldn't have known, however, since the ninja were always too tired to train me. Even Zane, somehow! So I naturally stopped training and started playing video games. Wu and Nya weren't around, so I was often alone. Which, given that I was already targeted as the Green Ninja and the Serpentine were still around, wasn't the smartest move.

Skales attempting to capture me and use it to gain acceptance with my father was, all things considered, not a bad plan, at least for me. If he went to my dad with me, my dad would have punished Skales and just let me go I think. Wu and Nya managed to show him what for, and looking back on it, this meant I never personally repaid Skales for betraying me. I'd managed to kick Pythor in the face, I kinda wish I'd gotten to do the same to Skales. He went to prison, and after realizing the fact I couldn't even take down Skales, the ninja moved us into that crowded apartment. I'll just say this: there is a reason on the new Bounty, Borg made it a point to give us individual rooms.

Now, this is where my memory gets, weird. According to Zane, this was when my father took the Golden Weapons and created the Mega Weapon. The Mega Weapon was able to grant any with that Garmadon asked of it, but drained him of his energy when he did, so he was limited to one wish per day. This is also when my father first began to try to interfere with my training to stop me from becoming the Green Ninja. It was a strange time for me, given that I was torn between being taught how to face my father, while also distinctly _not_ wanting to face my father. Everytime I become stronger, it meant that the battle was drawing closer.

That isn't to say I didn't like training. In fact, I love training. I love getting stronger, seeing how I'm able to do things that before would have taken me forever to do. Training to be strong, however, is different from training for a battle. I didn't know how I would fight my father, why I would fight him, or really anything. It was sort of like a raincloud hanging over me, and I never knew when it would rain or for how long. So, I stopped focusing on it, even if I always was in its shadow. (I'm kinda proud of that metaphor.)

In order to train me, the ninja took me to meet him: Grand Sensei Dareth. A lot of you probably know Dareth for two things: putting on the Helmet of Shadows, and fighting alongside me in the Resistance. While we'll eventually get to those, I personally have always seen Dareth as one of our oldest allies. In fact, I'd go as far as to say he's our most important ally!

I know Dareth is, strange. In fact, there were times where I wondered how he had ever become a teacher in the first place. But the thing about Dareth, is that if you take a step back to look at him, you realize just how put together he is. I never noticed how good of a teacher he was until I met his students. Dareth may not know how to fight, but he knows how to teach others how to fight. His students love him! And none of the parents we encountered while using his Dojo ever complained about him. In fact, I never noticed how many people Dareth knew until we started noticing how many people he talked to outside of the Dojo. Granted, we mainly saw him in the Dojo, but all things considered, I totally see why he opened that bar.

Dareth is one of the most important people in my story. If we hadn't had his Dojo, I wouldn't have been trained as I was. That would mean he likely would never have tried to put on the Helmet of Shadows, he would never have saved my life as I went to fight the Overlord, and all of Ninjago would have been doomed. I'm getting ahead of myself here, but when we say that the Brown Ninja is an honorary member of our team, we mean it. Dareth is one of our closest friends and I wouldn't trade him out for anyone in Ninjago. But, I'm getting off track here.

Many of you remember the attack of the pirates, which strangely was not the only flying pirate ship attack on Ninjago City. Soto and his crew was revived by either my dad or something else, and they ran amok. Dareth was captured, and so of course we immediately sprung into action. I think that technically was my first ninja mission where I was actually strong enough to consider myself apart of the ninja, all things considered. I don't really remember much about the Pirates, but it was the first time I ever did Spinjitzu! If you ever get the chance to learn it, do it. It's so satisfying to pull off and being able to use it is such a rush. Just don't do what I did and get so excited you pulled it off you let yourself get attacked.

Nya ended up bailing us out, and once the Pirates were defeated by her Samurai X Suit -which I still will always say was her coolest invention ever- we were happy to actually have our home back. We really didn't care how the Bounty was back, or why, as Kai put it, it'd gone 'emo,' but that really didn't matter. Then, my father showed up and took control of the ship from us. He said that I'd never be strong enough to defeat him, and revealed to us that he had taken command of the Serpentine. As he flew away, cackling that he'd never let me get stronger, it marked the strange few months where all my father did was send creations after us to try and stop me from training. It was… weird.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier was the fact that at this time, the ninja's elemental powers were mostly gone. From what I understand from Wu, the ninja all still had the powers inside them, and the Golden Weapons had been a way for them to use them. Wu said that without the weapons, while they could still use their powers, it was like trying to suck water through a straw versus a cup. I myself was taught how to use all four of their elemental powers as apart of my training. After I came into my own, they all sort of merged together into the green power I hold now, but before I could use that green power, I learned the others. This became very important later.

This is where I have to start relying on what the ninja told me. Since all the things that happened here were because of the supposed Mega Weapon, no one in Ninjago knows how all of this happened. I can remember key events, but not that much else. My training was all happening during this, so I remember enough that I'm not confused, but I'm going to have to skim some of this until the Grundle so I stick to what I know.

I actually thought I'd have more to say about going back to Darkley's Boarding School after everything that happened with me growing up there, but I don't think I have that much. Brad and the others were still the same jerks, really all I think about is that somehow the kids managed to overpower the ninja, which seems somewhat pathetic even if I didn't get to see it. I… think they wanted me to lead them? I'd already decided to become the Green Ninja by that point, so I didn't have anything to say to them. I know the ninja were fighting… something? I think it was a copy of themselves? Somehow Jay managed to beat his copy without any help? I'm not exactly sure.

Maybe that's a testament to how much I'd been forced to change in such a short amount of time? The semester wasn't even over at Darkley's, and I'd already turned my back on that childish notion of wanting to simply be taken seriously and be evil. The more I think about it that way, the more it seems to reinforce how important me becoming the Green Ninja was. Not just for destiny, but for me. I had completely changed as a person, and the fact that I saw Brad trying to convince me to be evil again as just annoying rather than actually listening to him might be profound? I don't know if that's right, so let's move on.

The Ninjaball Run, that was definitely weird. I think what was really important was that I started to form a bond with the Ultra Dragon. A lot of people forget the Ultra Dragon existed, and while I haven't, I don't entirely blame them. The race was won by the Ultra Sonic Raider, and in the end all I managed to do was knock the Skullkin out of the race. Which, now that I think more on it… how did they get out of the Underworld? And why didn't my dad just blow up Dareth's shop with the Black Bounty instead of entering the race? Actually, if the Mega Weapon could grant wishes just like Zane says it could, then why not just wish I didn't have anywhere to train? And why were the pirates that had just tried to destroy the city allowed in the race? How were kids like Brad and I allowed to compete?

I'm going to keep going just so I don't end up frying my brain thinking about this. Now we get to the important event: the Grundle. The ninja insist that Garmadon wished it alive by 'turning back the clock' and when they tried to stop it, they were turned into kids. Everytime I try to think of why the ninja were children -Zane especially!- I just get a headache. I wouldn't care so much if this wasn't one of the single most defining elements to the final battle.

The ninja were turned into kids, and so they came to me for help. After I had a good laugh at their expense given how ridiculous it was -and if that sounds rude, Kai has done that to me multiple times- we came up with a plan to defeat it. Now, I knew Mother Doomsday casually; when I wasn't training, I started to frequent the store with the free time I had. It was actually how I managed to binge read Starfarer so quickly. Without Mother Doomsday I would have likely started to read the spin offs, which I will point out are not labeled as spin offs, and then I might have accidentally picked up the reboot that died after just ten issues, and I might have even started to read some of the fan comics that people sold but again didn't label them as not canon… the point is, comics are complicated and I don't know how anybody starts them without having someone to tell you what to read. Actually, I think the point is I knew Mother Doomsday and the fact he had a bunch of weird highly specific knowledge about a comic that had the Grundle in it.

Sometimes I realize how weird my life is. Mother Doomsday had a replica of the ninja's suits and illumi-swords based off of the weapons in Starfarer. Since the Grundle was nocturnal, we needed something that would stop it, and Doomsday told us light would work well. However, to get those, we had to win a trivia competition. Nowadays, I could just walk in, show a small bit of green power and get whatever I wanted for free. There's no way I would do that, as that would be just, wrong, but it was annoying we had to jump through hoops to save our lives.

Of course, fighting a massive ancient beast with props we ended up having to just steal after the Grundle broke in anyhow was never going to work. It turned out they were just cheap replicas that he'd wired up to have lights in the sword part, so smacking them against things went as well as you think it would. The Grundle was easily able to overpower us, and once more I was facing that all-too-familiar feeling of knowing I was about to die.

That was when I saw the Tomorrow's Tea. I had a choice to make in that moment, a choice that became a defining moment in my life. If Wu used that tea, then the Grundle would be defeated, the ninja would be aged back up… and I'd be caught in the blast of it. I'd be giving up my childhood, the chance I would have to grow up, to save my friends.

At the time, it was a non choice. I wasn't going to selfishly say I wanted my own childhood over the lives of the ninja, Mother Doomsday, and everyone else in the city that could get hurt. So I didn't even let them hesitate and just told them to do it. I know a lot of people would regret that choice, giving up years of their life like that on a whim. I… don't. I really don't. I don't feel myself regretting it. I mean, how could I? What was the other option, get eaten and die right there? I say losing a few years versus losing, well, all of them was the right choice.

Of course, this had a side effect I didn't think about at the time: I had just accelerated the battle to fight my father. By aging my body, I was able to learn the elements far faster than I would have as a child. I was able to progress in my training at nearly triple the speed. I soon was taking on all four ninja at once to train, rather than struggling with just two. The growth I experienced, it changed everything. It didn't just change me, but it changed my dad. It sparked something in him, something that led directly to what happened to Ninjago City with the Overlord. I'd even go as far as to say that moment was when destiny fully tightened its grip around me and my father.

Now, according to Zane, this was the point where my dad tried to amass forces to go and attack us, and ended up wishing to go back in time to make it so I was never trained to begin with. This was when the Mega Weapon was also shot into space. I wish that I was kidding, but having been to the very meteor where it landed, I know that somehow, the metal of the Golden Weapons was there. I didn't care to ask at the time given how I was also trying not to get eaten by swarms of space bugs -long story- but I know that somehow the Golden Weapons ended up in space, and the timeline reset with events both happening, and not happening. That is all I'm going to say on that matter.

After more weeks of training, I was finally a competent fighter. I was able to summon the green power in small bits, or at least feel the elemental energy inside of me. I had a grasp on the elements, and I knew what I was doing. I was well on my way to finally growing into what destiny required me to become: the Green Ninja. My mind was on my training. For some reason, training to fight my dad, was far easier to do than thinking about fighting my dad. It was a weird time, but I had to put my mind on something. So I chose my training.

Of course, everything was about to change in my life again. I can trace the moment where everything in Ninjago began to accelerate towards the final battle to one specific day, and even more, one specific moment. We had been called in to aid in a situation at the Ninjago History Museum, specifically the fact that souvenirs of a recently unearthed Stone Warrior had come to life from the Great Deouver's venom. It was a simple job, if not somewhat annoying, and one managed to escape. Wu ran after it, determined to catch it and get this job over with.

When Wu introduced her to the group, that was when I saw her. The woman in my life that was perhaps just as important as my dad, even if I had never met her before. It was someone that I had heard about, and even had a vague image of in my head. She looked nothing like I remembered, and I bet I looked nothing like she remembered me. It was meeting her that started everything, from the awakening of the Stone Army, to the rising of the Dark Island, and eventually, the Overlord's return. Everything that happened can be traced down to that one moment.

It can all be traced to the day I finally met my mother.

* * *

"There…" Lloyd sighed, leaning forward and shaking his head, "I did my best to get everything out I remembered about those months. What do you think?"

"Interesting," Zane muttered partially to himself, "It appears that the Mega Weapon's effects were centered around preserving the core events to allow the timeline to proceed unhindered, while also ensuring that events origins were preserved such that those involved cannot remember them. Are you certain you have no explanation for the Grundle?"

"No, I don't remember how it happened. I just remember you all called me, said you were kids, and then we had the Tomorrow's Tea incident," Lloyd grimaced, "I've tried hard to remember it, Zane."

"I apologize if my repeated insistence is accusatory to you," Zane quickly backpedaled, "The others simply do not have the desire to research further into this. Given our dealings with time in the past have yielded strange results, I wanted a bit more information on the period. Forgive me."

"What? No, no, Zane!" Lloyd waved his hands, "I'm not mad! I just was kinda wondering that stuff myself. It's frustrating since, you know, how important it is!"

"It was a rather trying trime, if not strange as well," Zane pointed out, "Your father's behavior was rather, strange. He appeared to act less like a true villain and far more like something from a cartoon."

"So I'm not the only one that noticed," Lloyd stood up, "Well, I might do part of this next chapter on my own. The first time I recorded it… I wasn't, kind about my mom. And I don't want to make it sound like I hate her. I just, have mixed feelings."

"Like your father," Zane nodded, "Well, let me know when you wish to do the next one. Perhaps we should take some time to help clear you head, then?"

"I think I'm good," Lloyd stretched, "There's another award ceremony tonight I have to get to. I was gonna see if the car is fixed."

"I can provide transportation," Zane tapped his head, "Calling bike."

From the window on the wall, Zane's eagle-inspired bike appeared. Lloyd blinked at it and then slowly nodded.

"Then let us depart," Zane turned, leading the two out of the room once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I'll say, is the Mega Weapon was weird, guys. 
> 
> Decided to post this two days early! I wrote a lot over this past week and decided I could afford to let one drop early!


	6. The Mother That Stumbled Into My Life

Just like my dad, I don't hate my mother.

As I've been given time to grow up and understand who I am, why I am, who I am, and the lengths that others have gone to in order to make sure I got to those places, I think I get it now. My mother made perhaps the hardest choice a mother can make to give me up so I wouldn't follow after my father. She did what she thought she had to do in order to prevent what must have looked like the end of everything. The ninja didn't learn about the Green Ninja prophecy until I was already a child, but my mother seemed to know about it either before I was born or just after I was born. Given that I only remembered very vague things about her before I met her, I must have been super young when she gave me up.

That doesn't mean I don't resent her for what she did. I grew up without my mother in a school of bullies, told to be like my dad but always failed to even get close to what he represented. My mother wanted me to not fight my dad, but put me in a place where I couldn't escape from who he was. I'm not saying that leaving me with Wu would have been better, but the fact she abandoned me altogether instead of finding some other way… hurts. It still hurts to this day.

It took me years to be able to feel that connection to Misako that I know the other guys feel to their parents. Whenever I met Ed and Edna outside of trying to steal from them, I was jealous of how they looked at Jay, and even more importantly how Jay looked at them. They all cared about each other, loved each other… they were there for each other. If I'd known that Jay was blowing his parents off earlier, I would have forced him to go and talk to them. He was throwing away a relationship that I never got to have. But I was never jealous enough to actually say anything, and when we would leave talking to them, I would instead just feel… sad.

My mother tried for a long time to get me to see her as a parent. It was hard, given that she wanted to drop back into my life and have that sort of connection without us ever having truly met. She didn't know anything about me. Sure, she said she always looked in on me when she wasn't busy researching and cared about me, but… but looking at me from afar and claiming you're helping me by leaving me alone in the world isn't parenting! It's abandoning me saying you have something better to do! It doesn't matter if that better thing was helping me, you still _left_ me. I never got to know what it was like to have mothers praise you, or teach you how to manage your rooms, or scold you for doing dumb things, or even saying that they love you. My mother had never told me she loved me until that day. She wouldn't have ever gotten the chance to say it.

Looking Misako in the eyes in that museum was a feeling completely different from when my father rescued me from the volcano. With my dad, it'd been a feeling of relief, happiness and joy seeing that someone had come to rescue me. With my mom, I just felt… angry. When she tried to say she was happy with how much I'd grown, something in me felt like it'd snapped. Something told me that she wasn't allowed to say that. I wasn't holding it together well to begin with, but the second Misako said she had a reason to leave, I couldn't take it. I stormed off, leaving her behind and trying to figure out how to deal with all the anger I now had inside of me.

I eventually wound up at the bottomless pit my mother had dragged the new Stone Warrior exhibit out of. Looking at it didn't make me feel better, but I wanted to be far away from Misako. I didn't want to talk to her after she'd tried to tell me she had a reason to abandon me. She found me, of course, but it wasn't like I wanted to talk to her. She managed to get me to listen long enough, though, for her to tell me about the Overlord.

It was strange to hear that the tale we in Ninjago knew by heart about the First Spinjitzu Master was only half the story. It was almost like hearing that your favorite bedtime story was written to be about, like, class divide? Okay, that's a random example, but my point is that I somewhat understood where she was coming from with what happened. The Overlord was the embodiment of all evil, and that evil was now reflected in my father. She knew that one of us would be going down in that final battle, and if she could prevent it she'd save her family. I somewhat got it.

Somewhat. Regardless of whether or not I would have died being raised by her, I ended up facing death multiple times in my life without my dad even being there. I unleashed the Serpentine, who in turn released the Great Devourer and caused suffering across Ninjago without even knowing I'd cause that. I was a dumb child who just wanted to be like his dad. If she wanted me to grow up without my father's influence, she failed. If she wanted me to grow up to be a good person, had Wu not been there I likely wouldn't have gotten that far. So many things that happened in the final battle only happened because Misako put me in Darkley's. That, to me, is the worst thing about this all. I can somewhat understand her, but only because destiny put me down the path to lead to that point with her decision as the starting place.

During all of this, the Giant Stone Warrior awoke, and after getting our first taste of the fact the Stone Army would be indestructible and only susceptible to elemental powers -with even mine only managing to stun it briefly- we had to find a way to fight it. I came up with a last minute plan to lure it around to confuse it. Once he was fully focused on just taking us out, I tricked him into falling down the massive sinkhole. We managed to defeat it, if only because that hole was too deep for him to climb out of. I know eventually the police captured him and sent him to Kryptarium, though.

The first incident with the Stone Army was a victory, but one that was really the event that kickstarted everything else. It's like the chapter in my life that had been about getting stronger was over. Misako was in my life again, and almost immediately, it's like I was in a car that was suddenly being gunned right towards my dad. That first Stone Warrior changed everything, without any of us knowing it at the time.

It was at that point Misako joined the crew of the Bounty, and began what really led to the final battle. To try to gain power to stop me, my dad took the Serpentine Generals out to look for the fabled Dark Island. Skales betrayed him, and Garmadon eventually washed up upon what was left of it. He managed to raise it from the ocean, and that just so happened to be the same day the Giant Stone Warrior awoke. When my mom stumbled back into my life, that was when the lead up to the final battle began.

Most of you remember the day the Stone Army rose up from Ninjago City and forced us to evacuate the citizens out of the city. Misako had details on the steps towards the Final Battle that I didn't even know existed. Apparently, the earthquakes were part of it. Later on we learned that Skales was burrowing under Ninjago City to collapse it under its own weight, but accidently stumbled upon the tomb of the Stone Army. Misako mentioned that when the islands were split, the Stone Army lost the connection to the Overlord and went dormant. Apparently, Ninjago decided to build right on top of the remains of an ancient evil. It wouldn't be the last time either (looking at you, Borg).

Skales opened the tomb of the warriors, and Misako later realized that it was likely Skales' destiny to do so, though unlike me and my father, he had no idea that was what he was doing at the time. The fact that the Stone Army were able to beat the Serpentine, a race that was known for its wars, in seemingly minutes given the proximity of the earthquakes to the first warrior rising was probably the single biggest indicator for me that these guys were tough. They were tough enough that facing just one of them was a challenge.

I guess I should mention how ironic it was that fighting drove the Serpentine into their tombs, and trying to fight again was what got them sealed away again. They were able to get out before another Pythor situation came up -something that I still haven't figured out how the other tribes didn't have- but I wanted to mention that. I would have said more on how the Serpentine started this whole mess through me and were sealed away indirectly through me, but I was focusing on bigger things at the time. Namely, saving those still stuck in the city.

Nowadays, Ninjago City is pretty good about handling crisis situations. Anyone that lives there clearly knows the risks and can get out of the city fast if they need to. The Great Devourer was still fresh on everybody's mind, so most of the people were able to get out fast once the quakes started. Those that stayed were the ones in the inner part of the city where the streets were getting torn up. We got our first taste of a stone warrior pretty quickly once we tried to fight them.

I think using the term 'indestructible' isn't entirely selling why those guys are terrifying. It's not the fact that you can't hurt them, it's the fact nothing slows them down. They don't get tired, or act hurt, or anything. Elemental powers are all that ever seem to stop them, but that's just temporary. Nothing is truly going to make them stop coming at you unless you have pure light in your hands. And green power isn't bright enough for that.

We used the Ultra Sonic Raider to clear a path to the NTV tower to use for evacuation. I don't actually know what happened to it after that. Wu thinks that the army simply destroyed it, and we never saw it again. We even built another one we called the Ultra Stealth Raider kinda recently, so I guess that was our way of saying we were never going to find it. The Ultra Dragon was there to help us defend the people as we got them to the roof. We evacuated a lot of people, so somewhere in the fray, Misako lost her research.

Once we were on the Bounty, Misako said she wanted to go back. I wasn't mad at the fact she was leaving me, I was mad at the fact that she was literally running headfirst into the middle of an army and praying she wouldn't get cut up. I wanted to go and help her, but the army was already starting to attack the Bounty, and she leapt off before I was able to say anything. Wu decided to take charge and help her, leaving me stranded on the ship. I literally could only watch as my mother ran off to what, from that last kiss she gave me felt like, was her last battle.

I have to say, the fact she made it all the way to her research without getting hurt was impressive. I guess it was true that she sparred with Wu and Garmadon growing up. Wu was there to help her, and I even managed to see her doing Spinjitzu. She never did it again from what I saw, but it was at least cool to see her do that. Actually, come to think of it we don't tend to use Spinjitzu a lot. I guess it's because it's tricky to use right, since you need space and better to use when you're solo so you don't end up throwing guys into your teammates. But, then again there have been times that we could have used it, right? Wait, we started using it a lot more when the Sons of Garmadon started up. I wanna say we were using Airjitzu during that time but, even then we kinda didn't use that one much at all after the ghosts. So, why don't we use it more?

Anyways. She made it back to me. I didn't realize that I was holding the breath I was until she landed on the deck. I was glad she was safe, but that was really it. I was glad she was safe. Again, I didn't feel like she was my mother at that point given that I'd literally only had her in my life for less than a week. I felt more like I would have it Dareth had managed to make it back to the Bounty. Maybe I'd be more relieved if it was Dareth.

Ninjago City fell in less than an hour. The Stone Army was tough. Then, of all things, they vanished. We don't know how they made it back to the Dark Island. Personally, I think that they built boats and sailed over. Kai said they walked on the ocean floor. However they did, we were left stuck in Ninjago, and in waiting for the citizens we'd gotten the Bounty damaged. We had to get over the Dark Island, of course, so we decided to sail. I will say this about that experience: I have, to my knowledge, only ever sailed once. I will never sail more than once.

While we were getting ready to sail, it was at that point that it hit me again that we were sailing for me to meet my father. When I was training as a kid, I didn't have to think much about the end of it all. I could train for the purpose of just getting stronger while my dad was still doing whatever he was doing with the supposed Mega Weapon. Now that Misako had entered my life, everything was starting to accelerate towards my father. Everything was going right for him, and I couldn't turn away anymore. The second I left Ninjago, all my thoughts had to be on the prophecy. That's what she told me, Wu told me, the ninja told me, and to an extent my dad had told me when he left me after the Fangblade.

I remember one moment that stuck with me: I was staring off into a telescope at the newly risen Dark Island, and while I was, I felt a weird cold chill run through my body. I summoned a bit of my power to blast some rocks around me to get rid of it. When Misako found me, she asked me what was going on. I don't know why I said this, but I told her I was looking at my destiny, and I was scared. I was scared of the fact that once we got there, my father was going to be all I had to focus on. It was the first time that I actually thought of what 'defeating' him meant. I didn't think I could do it.

What she told me somewhat ties together why having her there was a blessing and a curse. She told me that destiny would guide my hands even if I couldn't, and if I had to strike down my father, then he wouldn't make me regret it. She didn't deny that I would have to… have to kill him if it came to that, but she told me I wouldn't have to feel bad about it. She didn't give me any other option, or tell me that I'd have the strength to do it, just that when it was done I'd be fine.

Both she and Wu were like this. They assumed before I ever stepped foot on that boat that I already had the strength in my to fight my dad. I don't think I ever had that strength. The entire time I was on the island, I was believing in strength that the others said existed. IMsako told me without words that I had to act like the Green Ninja in the prophecy. I had to be the Lloyd they all thought I was. I had to believe in the Lloyd that believed in me.

I wasn't strong. I still don't think that I'm as strong as everybody thinks I am. I made mistakes, and on the island, I made one decision that a lot of people say was a mistake. But before I ever got there, I made a decision to try to be the Lloyd that they all thought I had to be. I had to be the strong, grown up, action ready Lloyd they all needed to help save Ninjago. I didn't know what that meant, but I knew what he had to do. I felt that by forcing myself to accept that I had to kill my dad, it would somehow make me better. That somehow, I'd be this, this image of myself I had to be. I made the mistake of deciding who I was going to be not for me, but for everyone else. It wasn't until the last possible moment that I had the revelation that unlocked my True Potential.

Back to the Bounty, we ended up getting halfway there and then going wildly off course once we were attacked by Starteeth. The Bounty's rudder was damaged, and so we were at the mercy of the storm. We ended up drifting into the middle of the Endless Sea, and by pure chance, we found the Lighthouse. Misako said it was destiny that we found who we did there.

I don't know really what to make of Dr. Julien. He seemed like a very nice man who was willing to take us in without question. I don't know if he would have done that without Zane being there, but knowing that Zane said his father was dead according to his memories, I was just as confused as everyone else was. He let us in, took us upstairs and showed off his robotic contraptions he'd made while stuck on the Lighthouse, something that was incredible when we learned he made them all with what amounted to just scraps.

How Dr. Julien had managed to survive his death never made much sense to me. An elixir that Samukai just happened to have, and so happened to revive him? How did Samukai escape the Underworld to go and do that? Where did that elixir come from, and how did it wear off after the Dark Island? If Dr. Julien was making the designs for the vehicles but not building them himself -since he was on an island barely big enough for the Lighthouse itself- why did Samukai keep him around longer than just the designs? When Samukai vanished after the ninja defeated him, how did… I think I'm missing the point here.

What I was thinking about at the time was how happy I was for Zane. I thought I'd be jealous, actually. I probably expected myself to see Zane and Dr. Julien talking together and having the relationship I wanted to have with my dad and want it. I actually guess it's probably a good sign of maturity when you know the childish thing to think and think something else. I was happy to see the two of them interacting like this. The longer I looked, though, I felt sad. Sad that I felt at that moment I'd never get that with my own dad. I was still upset with Misako somewhat, so I had already ruled that out with my mom as well. I guessed seeing what I wanted a father and son to look like made me realize I'd never have it.

There is one thing about Dr. Julien that I don't know how I feel about. Erasing Zane's memories is something I've thought about. I thought about whether or not my life would have been easier if perhaps before I had to fight him, my memories had been erased. If I could have gone into the final battle without worrying about what he thought of me, or what I thought of him, or any of that, I wouldn't have hesitated on the island even once. It would have saved a lot of suffering. But it also would mean that I wouldn't be me today. I wouldn't be able to look back like this. But then, is the person I became really the best version of myself? Zane turned out fine. But, what would Zane look like without that gap in his memories? I don't know. So, I don't know how I feel about that. I choose not to think about it much anymore.

The biggest thing we had to focus on was getting the Bounty fixed and escaping the Leviathan that was chained around the Lighthouse. I guess it was only taught to stop things going out rather than going in, since we were able to get there just fine. Dr. Julien thankfully agreed that sailing was a dumb idea, so making it fly again was easier. He would have just fixed the jet if we had the parts, but the fact we were working with table scraps and a prayer led us to making it into a zeppelin instead. We worked whenever the massive creature wasn't watching us, which turned out to be rather often.

By the time we were ready to launch, we were fighting the clock. The Leviathan came for us before we were fully able to take off. I never got to see what it fully looked like, and I know from the fact my power only briefly stunned it that it was powerful. We were in serious danger of being dragged into the sea and likely drowned or forever stranded on the Lighthouse. Had it not been for Zane diving into the ocean, we'd have been done for.

Zane made it back onto the ship, and when he did, he said the reason he freed the beast was because no one deserved to be held captive, not even a monster. The way he said that reminded me of my dad. My dad had always aid the evil flowing through him was what made him the way he was. He was, in a way, held captive so tightly he could never hope to escape. It made me wonder, was the final battle going to free him from all of this? Would I do something to set him free, or would I hurt him, like I was trying to do with the Leviathan? Would I be able to do what Zane did, or was I trapped?

I didn't have much more time to think about it. We were on our way to the Dark Island, and I didn't have the chance to think about it anymore. My dad was on the horizon, and it was time for me to finally begin facing my destiny.

* * *

Zane finished listening to the recording Lloyd have given him. Lloyd hadn't ever told him he couldn't listen to the chapters he recorded on his own, and given that he'd listened to all the others ones in person it made sense. The recording, however, perplexed Zane, if only because it was strange this was the first chapter that Lloyd had recorded all on his own.

The comment about memories was what was making Zane wonder if it was the reason he'd done it alone. Zane never talked much about the memory switch, if only because by now it wasn't even apart of his system anymore. The others always were strange around the topic, given that it meant that his father had taken away Zane's choice of remembering him. He hadn't allowed Zane to move forward into his future remembering his past, why he was built, or anything. He'd thrown Zane out into the world, and let him stumble his way into his life.

It was less so the reality of what the switch was, and more so the comment on who Lloyd would have been if he hadn't had the memories of his father. Zane knew that knowing Garmadon was his father was what pained Lloyd the most of the Dark Island. It was the biggest source of pain for him during those events, and if he hadn't had any hesitation, then perhaps the final battle itself would never have happened the way it did.

Yet, that was a branch of thought Zane was hesitant to open. Lloyd wouldn't be the same person he was, so how would events play out? The goal of their time on the island had been partially around preventing the final battle from happening. An unfeeling Lloyd would change how Garmadon would approach everything. Even if somehow Lloyd ended up facing the Overlord as he did, Zane suspected Lloyd mentioning a certain revelation as the key to his True Potential. How could he have reached that, without the emotions that he had?

"Zane?" Pixel's voice snapped Zane out of a deep train of thought, "Zane, Lloyd has requested that we all arrive for the award ceremony for the Resistance's efforts. Are you presentable?" She trailed off as she saw the look in Zane's eyes, "Zane, something appears to be wrong, am I within my bounds to ask what it is?"

"It's just a thought, Pixel," Zane replied, standing up as he did, "Lloyd has asked me to help him in writing a book. He has some very unique opinions on what has happened in Ninjago's history. Some of them have given me insight into him that I previously would never have uncovered. It has led me to think about my own past, in some light, and how I've grown as a ninja."

"Perhaps I may be of some assistance?" Pixel asked curiously, her tone slightly worried, "I know that you have had issues with your identity in the past, if you are having those again, please let me know so I can-"

"It's nothing like that, my love," Zane reached out to take one of Pixel's hands, "If I were having issues like that, I would tell you right away. I promise."

"Thank you," Pixel tightened the grip between them, "You know that I am always here for you, right?"

"Always," Zane smiled, "Come, let us go to the others, we can talk about this after we've resolved this situation."

Pixel led Zane out of the room as he requested, holding his hand all the way. For now, Zane put aside the thoughts he had about Lloyd and his past, and instead turned to look towards the future.


	7. The Moment that Cost Everything

When I set foot on the Dark Island, everything about it felt wrong to me. It felt strange, all the way deep inside me. Misako said that was because I was a reflection of light, and had just stepped into a place of shadow. If that was true, then I wanted to leave immediately. If you've been outside in the cold before and felt those harsh shivers that go right through you, those were what I felt almost every time I took a step on that island. I felt sick to my stomach, cold to the bone and weak in a way that I hadn't felt before. I hated every minute that I spent on that beach.

That was partially because of a choice I was forced to obey while I was there: stay put. Once we landed, despite how awful I felt, I wanted to go out and stop my father. The Stone Army had wrecked Ninjago City and then vanished. I told myself at first I wanted retribution for that. I knew that was barely even a factor in my mind at the moment. The longer I waited, the longer I had time to doubt the decision I'd made to act the part of the Lloyd that everyone needed to carry out the final battle. The longer I stayed there, the longer I had to put my mind onto thoughts of the fact I was going to have to kill my father.

This was something that nobody said, but everybody seemed to understood: 'defeat' my father clearly didn't mean just beating him. He was evil, corrupted right to the core. The fact he was here, on the island, meant that I didn't have the chance to reform him. He had tried that already, and left me over it. I'd have to end it. I never said it, but it was something I had to understand. I had to be ready for it. And it only made it worse and worse every minute I had to think about it.

We spent the first few days disguising the Bounty into the beach so as not to attract the attention of the constant patrols. It was hard work, and more than once we had a close call of feeling it was the moment we would be caught. Thankfully, the beach was large and the Bounty was hidden behind a small hill to hide part of the ship. It was imperative that we remain hidden on the island, unless we wanted to prematurely start the final battle. Misako quickly grew afraid that if I was seen at all, that destiny wouldn't line up the way she claimed it had to for me to win.

While I was on the ship, it was hard to train. Everytime I did, I would end up just thinking that every move I tried, I'd use on my dad. When I'd try to stop and get rest, I'd be kept up by those same thoughts. If I went to talk to Misako or Wu, they'd both tell me that I had to be ready in whatever way I needed to be for the final battle. Even when I was out collecting supplies, I could never go very far in fear of being caught and, again, starting the final battle. Whatever I did, I couldn't stop thinking about the final battle!

I wanted to go help the ninja, but I couldn't. I wanted to train, but I couldn't. I wanted to talk to someone, anyone, but I couldn't. Not without being told what I already knew I didn't want to hear. I hated every bit of that situation, and even now, my feelings in that brief stay on the island were tangled, confused and angry. It left me stuck, stuck in a way that nothing I did to try to make myself feel better helped. I was just there, on the island, stuck.

The plan was relatively simple after we'd hidden the Bounty: the ninja needed to find the Temple of Light so they could regain their elemental powers and I could learn the fighting style of the First Spinjitzu Master: the Golden Dragon. Of course, I wanted to go immediately, partially because of how cool the powerup sounded, but mostly because I wanted to stop sitting around on the ship. Of course, I couldn't go. I was trapped again, and the ninja went off to try to get the location using a medallion that Misako had on her. (Come to think of it, my mom had most everything we needed whenever it was important.)

The ninja weren't gone for that long, a few hours at most. I was left sitting on the ship again, staring off into space and wondering where my father was hiding. I knew he was there, and according to Misako, he had teamed up with what was likely the Overlord to control the Stone Army. Those guys were strong enough that we didn't stand a chance of ever getting to beat them if they all came after us, so stealth made sense. Wu managed to get attacked looking for supplies, and even with my lightning powers and Wu's years of training and teaching, it took a lot just to imprison one man alone. He broke free after the ninja returned, so I guess either way, our presence on the island would have always gotten out.

The ninja returned and said they'd gotten spotted by all of the army. Sometimes I wonder why we bother to call ourselves ninja if we hardly ever do ninja things. I guess it's like Spinjitzu, and we use it when we remember to and just rely on simple fighting and training otherwise. In order to get to the Temple of Light, Nya revealed she and Dr. Julien had built a drilling machine in record time. I'd been so busy thinking of other things I hadn't paid attention to what they were doing. I wish I had, it would have been cool to see them making those things out of scrap metal. We all loaded up inside, and finally, I was able to go with them. As excited as I was, knowing that the entire Stone Army would be behind us was a terrifying thought.

It was even scarier when we outraced the army's vehicles just barely fast enough. Cole's driving skills did a lot that day. We arrived at the base of the mountain, and the driller wasn't goign to cut it. Kai discovered Nya had put a mech on the back of the driller, so we used that to help scale the mountain the Temple of Light stood on. Whenever I get my next mech, I want Nya to be the one to build it, since the mech I got later on barely lasted a quarter of the time Kai's mech did.

We raced our way up the mountain with the Stone Army right behind us. When we finally managed to get to the temple, Kai caused a rockslide to help buy us some time. We were under a time limit, but as soon as we got there, the Army seemed to fade away. As soon as I laid eyes on the place, I felt some strange sense of calm wash over me.

When I placed my foot inside the temple grounds, the darkness the island was crushing me with vanished. I felt free, like breathing fresh air after being underground. Just walking inside the beautifully sculpted walls was pure unfiltered bliss to me. The other ninja felt the same way just from the way they sighed as we all entered the gates. Just being there, felt right in a way that's hard to describe. It was like, everything that I'd done to this point, was going to lead me here. I never knew this place existed, but when I saw it, I realized this was where I was meant to be.

Walking inside the main room, seeing all of the adventures in our lives that had led us to that point all sculpted into the walls, almost like someone had glimpsed into our future and scrawled out what they saw, was shocking. It wasn't awe-inspiring, since I had the feeling it meant that all our adventures would always have turned out this way. It wasn't terrifying, since it meant I could be comforted knowing our decisions that led us to that point was all we needed. I just felt, stunned seeing it all. Stunned in a way that I never knew I could feel. It felt… right.

The next room is one room I will never forget. Four pillars rose up around the room, each the color of one of the ninja's gi. In the center of the room, above a large angular pattern, was a massive bell. The room felt familiar to me in a way I didn't understand. I'd never been here before, so why did I feel like I had? I realize now, it was the power of the First Spinjitzu Master flowing through me, calling out to a place he'd set up for me. He knew that one day, I would need his powers, and this, all of it was for me. I felt justified, justified in all my decisions I'd made to then. I don't know why there ever needed to be a bell, but once more, I heard the words that would, in a way, forever define the course of Ninjago's history:

"For once the Green Ninja finds the instrument of peace, he will strike it, and know the power of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master."

The others didn't know what it meant. The second I heard those words in my head, I knew. I knew without even having to tell them it was the bell. I felt it, deep inside me, something that had been growing inside of me since the day I first started training to be the Green Ninja. Every moment, every battle, every mistake, decision, defeat, all of it came down to that one moment. In one moment, I put my foot on the path to the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master.

I struck the bell, and everything went white. My body felt weak, and slowly, I felt myself falling. I'd never felt that weak in my entire life. Not when Pythor betrayed me, when the Serpentine mocked me, when the ninja beat me in training, and when I'd first thrown myself out into the world had I ever felt that weak before. It was like all the strength that I had inside me was leeching out of me. It didn't hurt, but I wasn't able to move, talk or cry for help. That power that was inside me, I felt it light up the walls, felt it wash over each of the ninja. They each were given the powers they needed, had always needed, and were always destined to have.

The room was spinning. My body was raised up into the air and bathed in the light. It flowed in and out of me, washing over me, purifying me and readying me for what the ninja were about to give me. The Green Power was one thing, but in that moment it was changed into something more powerful. I didn't hear anything, but I felt it. I felt the sudden raw elemental energy burst into me. The strength that was gone, all of it just, rushed back into me all at once. I felt something new inside of me, some new power that I didn't know. It felt new, but it felt like it was mine. Like looking into a mirror after a complete makeover, I felt myself become something new.

Using the Golden Power, even a mere fraction of it, was one of the most intense feelings I ever had. It was so… raw, it was raw power that was coming out of me. It was flowing through my arms and out into the world. I felt like I both barely had control over it, and that feeling was exhilarating. I was wielding something that was beyond anything I thought I could ever learn through Wu's teachings. When I let that first Golden Dragon loose, every bit of my body felt like it was on fire, in a good way. Seeing the Stone Army, driven off by my hands, I felt something too as I watched the dragon fill the air around me: hope.

I passed out almost immediately after the dragon was finished. The other ninja did the same when they unlocked their True Potential. At first, I thought that _was_ my true potential, and that meant when I woke up, I felt like I was now on my way to truly facing my father. I woke up on the Bounty, surrounded by the ninja, Wu, Misako and Dr. Julien. All of them were happy for me, happy for themselves and happy for Ninjago that I had the power I now needed to fight my father. I wasn't taking small steps on the path to the final battle, I was running down the track and getting ready to fight my way to the finish line.

Most of the time, this would be the part in the story that I would go straight to my dad and challenge him to a fight to truly decide the final battle. I was a powered up hero and I was ready to go and fight him, so it would make sense in a way to go right to him and end it. Most frustrating than ever, however, I had to stay behind on the Bounty! I wanted to go right away to fight my dad and end all of this, but I was told to stay behind again. It didn't matter that I was, to my knowledge, already at my True Potential. I had to stay behind!

I know it seems like me saying I wanted to go right to him was against me wanting to not ever fight my father. I think what made me so desperate to do that, however, was that having the power made the battle no longer some distant goal anymore. When you have an assignment due and you wait to work on it, it almost doesn't feel real until it gets down to the wire. Now that I had my powers, I was already on the wire. I couldn't put it off anymore. The longer I had to wait, the more the feelings were just, consuming me.

I wasn't allowed to practice my new powers for the same reason that Wu forbade the ninja from practicing theirs (even if they completely disobeyed him): if I used them, I could attract Garmadon's attention. Golden Power isn't exactly quiet, and now that we were known to be on the island, we were working harder than ever to keep our location secret.

Misako found something that, at the time, almost infuriated me. She found she'd overlooked something in her research that might find a way to prevent the final battle. I didn't say anything at the time, but knowing that she apparently had something that could have alleviated all of my twisted up terror and confusion from the beginning irked me a lot. If we could get the Helmet of Shadows and replace it on the Celestial Clock, which counted down to the start of the final battle, we could perhaps prevent it from ever happening. I was filled with joy to know that I could actually maybe do something to prevent it… and again, I was told to stay behind.

At that point, I was angry. I'd spent days on the island unable to do anything but sit around and think about something no kid should ever have to think about, then I was given the best feeling powerup in the history of powerups, and I had to stay on the bench again? It didn't matter that I knew why they were doing it, I hated it. It drove me insane to think I couldn't do anything to help! I wanted to do something to stop the final battle, and I was told I couldn't do it!

The ninja planned to take Misako as a prisoner to get the helmet from my dad. Given how they'd screwed up the mission to just find the Temple of Light, it wasn't that much of a shock when Nya said the falcon -that's Zane's robotic pet Dr. Julien had built for him and apparently the reason why they got caught the first time- spotted them being attacked by some giant mech my dad had built. I told Wu I had to go to help protect Nya, but again I was told no. I couldn't do anything again. I had to sit there and watch as Nya went after the ninja.

My anger finally boiled over when Nya's radio to the Bounty saying that she had the helmet and the ninja was cut off by someone attacking them. At that point, I lost it. Wu and Misako tried to stop me, but with my new power, they couldn't and wouldn't try. They'd hoped that I would stay put just out of the fact I needed to. I didn't. I ran off into the woods and used the falcon to track where Nya and the others had surfaced. That was the first time I found out I could make myself go faster by shooting green power out of my hands. I went through that forest faster than I'd ever gone in my entire life.

When I saw the mech, I didn't hesitate. I shouted for them to let my friends go, and I blasted it. That mech never stood a chance against me. Nobody stood a chance against me. The ninja ran from it as fast as they could, and I put it down even faster. I was stronger than anyone else on the island, or at least that's what it seemed like. So, when I walked up to see my father standing there, injured, badly bruised, and vulnerable, all I could go on in that moment was my anger.

My dad stumbled out of the mech, coughing, injured, and barely standing. My power was like being hit by a massive truck. The thing that the ninja had been caught by, was nothing more than scrap now. The ninja stood aside in the driller, leaving me to stand there facing my dad. In that moment, our positions were reversed. All this time, I'd always been weak. My dad had been the strong and powerful man to look up to. Now, I had the power of the actual First Spinjizu Master in my hands. I was finally where Misako said I should be. And all I could feel… was anger.

I was angry at the fact that I had to be the Green Ninja. I was angry I was held back for so long and then told at the last minute I could stop this battle. I was angry that I had to pretend to be this version of myself that I wasn't, a version willing to fight my father. I was angry I never got to ever spend any time with my dad without this stupid, stupid battle hanging over it. I was angry that at that moment I had a chance to stop everything, a chance I never wanted but I had to decide right there to take!

I heard the others goading me into it. I heard the prophecy ringing in my head. This was all it was leading to. Everything, all this time, it was always going to be this. I charged my power in my hands. I knew even a fraction of it would likely end my dad's life. All I had to do was let it go. I let that anger, all of it, just pulse through me. I let it all fill up my hands and get ready to end everything. I could stop everything right there, everything that I thought would happen, and everything that came next. All I had to do, was let the power loose.

Then my dad looked away.

Wu says there is a moment in everybody's life where you make a choice that defines who you are. Who you want to be is decided there, and no matter what, you will always remember that moment. For Wu, it was when he refused to go after the katana that caused Garmadon to be bitten. For each of the ninja, it was their True Potential. For me, it was that moment. That moment with me was when I stood with the weapon to end my dad's life loaded, aimed, and ready to fire. That moment where I was ready to be that Lloyd I was pretending to be, and fully become him. I was going to become my father's killer.

My dad couldn't face me. I was too strong for him, and he knew it. If he'd kept looking at me, as if to say he was either ready to face his death or was ready for me to do it, then I wouldn't have hesitated. When he looked away, it was him saying he wasn't ready to die. No, not that. It was that he wasn't ready to die thanks to _me_. His own son was about to kill him for a prophecy neither of us asked to be in, and I was going to do it out of anger. I was about to… to do something horrible.

I made a choice at that moment, and that moment was what cost Ninjago everything, even if it was for a moment. If I hadn't, the Overlord wouldn't have had a vessel to go to Ninjago. The Garmatron wouldn't have worked, I bet, and even if it had the Overlord wouldn't have grown to his original power. That moment was everything, and as I lowered my hands, feeling all that anger leave me, I was horrified at what I did. It was literally everything I could do just to run to the driller and take off for the clock.

The other ninja didn't comment on what I did. Jay tried to, but Cole stopped him. I couldn't tell if they were upset, angry, or something else. I just was spaced out. The horror of what I was about to do had set in. I wanted to cry badly, but the others wouldn't have liked that. It may have even made them lose hope. Showing I couldn't do it, I couldn't be the Lloyd willing to kill his father, it was likely damaging enough to them. I wanted to ask Misako for help, but she didn't have anything to say to me. I think that bit hurt the most.

We made it to the clock. Some part of me had put my body on autopilot, and so even as we raced to try to stop the clock, I was only doing what the others told me to. I wasn't thinking hard about it all. I was just running around, looking for the spot. Why a clock would have so many obvious perches made no sense to me. I guess it might have been to prevent what we were trying to do. It was such a confusing method for the clock to work to begin with. Why was there even a clock?

The Stone Army showed up while we were doing it, and ruined everything. We ran out of time trying to find the perch, and Kozu, the Stone Army general, taunted us. We managed to find it and even place it just as the clock stopped, but that wasn't good enough. The Horns of Destruction sounded. I should have felt horror. I barely felt anything at that moment.

The Stone Army faced us down, catching us in the middle of nowhere. We were backed onto the edge of the rock perch the clock sat on, and I guess all of out combined weight caused part of it to crack and slide down. The army managed to capture Nya in confusion, just to add insult to injury. We were sent down into the ocean around the island. Before I hit the water, I saw a beam of light fire from the clock out towards Garmadon's camp. None of us knew what that meant, but I felt it deep in me. I felt that we'd failed, and there was no longer any stopping what was about to happen.

The final battle was about to begin.

* * *

"Lloyd?" Zane leaned forward, "Lloyd, you're… you're crying."

"What?" Lloyd reached up towards his face, placing one of his hands against his cheek. When he pulled it away, it was wet with tears. Once he felt them, he then felt the hot streaks down his face. Zane was staring at him with concern in his robotic eyes.

"You began crying when you were yelling about how angry you were," Zane pointed out, "I considered stopping you, but you were already so emotional I felt it best to let you finish. Are you okay, Lloyd?"

"I…" Lloyd started to say 'I'm fine,' but as he did, he felt a lump in his throat. His voice was hoarse from yelling and not even realizing he had, and his eyes felt hot from crying. He shook his head to Zane to answer the question, looking away.

Zane sighed and slowly stood up, walking over to Lloyd and sitting beside him. He wrapped one arm around Lloyd's shoulder. As soon as he hugged him, Zane'd body began to cool, as though leaning against a gentle ice pack. The more Lloyd felt it, the more he felt himself relaxing. He leaned against the chilly ninja while trying to get his breath back. Three times he tried to speak, but found his words failed him. When he managed to talk, he muttered.

"It hurt, Zane…" Lloyd gasped out, "It hurt. Everyone told me I had to kill him. I had to. I had to defeat him. None of you were subtle about it. You wanted me to kill my dad. What was I going to do? Could you, could you even imagine doing that to, to Dr. Julien? Or, or Jay to Ed? H-How could any of you ever… ever want me to…?"

"There, there," Zane squeezed Lloyd tightly, "It was perhaps far too much to ask of someone so young. We put you on a path you weren't ready for. You've done an incredible job to get this far and be able to see all of this the way you do. You might be the strongest of all of us to get this far as put together as you have."

"I was gonna do it, Zane, I was going to…" Lloyd inhaled, "I was going to kill him. I… I could have… I could have just…"

"Lloyd, what matters is the decision you made, not what you could have done," Zane responded warmly, shifting his body to a warm setting, "You made a choice that was very hard for you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Deciding not to kill someone, even one you're told to, means you held onto your principles. No matter what happened, you are not at fault for the events. You did what you felt was right, not what any of us felt was right. I'm so sorry we ever put that burden on you."

Lloyd took a long time to just relax in Zane's arms. Zane made sure the electronic lock to the room was shut so he could allow Lloyd to relax. When Lloyd finally did sit up, he didn't immediately get up. Instead, he looked to Zane and wiped his face. Zane offered him some tissues and summoned ice in a bottle he heated up against his body to give Lloyd water to help clean his face off with.

"Thanks, Zane…" Lloyd sniffed, "I think, I think I'm okay now. I feel better. I… I had to say all of that. I know, I know that you all had big things to think about, but I needed to say it."

"I'm glad that you did," Zane patted his shoulder, "I needed to hear it. We all need to hear this. When we finish with this part of your book, I would like the entire group to hear this. Do you mind if we do that?"

"Well… I'm sure they'd buy the book anyways, so yeah, of course," Lloyd chuckled, "I'm surE Kai is going to have a lot to say."

"I'm sure they all are," Zane chuckled back, "Come, I believe we should stop for now. You've said a lot, you must be tired."

"I am, actually, thanks Zane," Lloyd stood up, "These, I'm still glad I asked you to do these with me. I really needed to do this."

"Always, Lloyd, always," Zane smiled, letting Lloyd leave a session once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this chapter was perhaps the hardest for me to write. This chapter alone has gone through almost 4 different rewrites. At first, I wanted to separate the Temple of Light from the next episode, but neither one was long enough on its own, and I didn't want to artificially lengthen either on. I didn't want to also try to add too many things that didn't happen, since that would, to me, be breaking the fact that the Dark Island arc, while short, is intense, powerful and doesn't overstay its welcome. This is perhaps the most difficult chapter I wrote, but it is indeed one of the original ideas that inspired this fic. I hope you enjoy!


	8. The First Final Battle

The Horns of Destruction, according to my mother, meant that the massive weapon she and the ninja had seen while getting the helmet was finished. We didn't know what it did, but the light of the Celestial Clock gave it form and power. It was sort of like putting something into an oven to cook; Garmadon had put everything he needed together, and the clock baked it all into the massive weapon. Garmatron had just been completed, and Ninjago's balance was officially at stake.

We swam our way back to the island's shores and followed the coast to get back to the Bounty. The walk back gave my head enough time to clear from everything that was bothering me. I felt cold all over, and not just from the fact we were dripping wet by the time we made it back. Kai dried us off, but that still didn't make how cold I felt go away. I wasn't cold on the outside, I was freezing on the inside. The thing I'd been dreading the most was right in front of me, and I was going into it feeling like I had no chance to do what needed to be done.

I was somewhat dull inside when we finally got back to the Bounty. My mother had given me false hope and it'd been ripped away from me in the worst way possible. Not only had we lost Nya, something that I was still processing, but the literal worst case scenario had happened. We were lucky that we escaped the way we did.

We had barely made it back to Dr. Julien when Wu was already reminding me that we were going towards the final battle, and going fast. The Golden Dragon technique relied on me being able to focus, which I guess is why I was still producing green beams despite having the dragon. The less I focused, the harder it was for me to use it all. But I didn't care about my new powers, I only cared that Wu was saying everything rested on my shoulders, on me, and that I'd already failed. I could have stopped all of this, and I hadn't.

That left me where I was, standing there on a beach surrounded by my friends and family, all telling me that it was too late to turn back. No matter what I chose, it had to be to go and face my father. I tried to tell Wu I couldn't, but Misako just said that I had to, that I didn't have a choice. It didn't matter anymore what I wanted, what I needed, or anything but the fact my dad had taken Nya, and I didn't have the chance to say no anymore. It was written that I'd go and fight this battle, so I obviously had to. That was what both Wu and Misako were saying to me then.

The ninja, however, said something different. They said that they would be behind me. That I had their elements, their friendship, and their trust. They knew that I had a lot to think about, understood me better than my own mother and uncle. I don't know what it was about how they said it, each offering their powers to me, but it made me think there for a moment. About something more than what was 'written in the scrolls.'

My dad didn't want to fight me, but he claimed he had to. The evil inside him was what made him do it, and that meant I had a chance. I didn't want to fight him, but I'd spent so long avoiding the decision to go and fight, I didn't have the right mindset anymore. I wasn't thinking about this in the whole picture. I couldn't let this be the end of everything. But, I couldn't let that decision be because Ninjago depended on it. I had to make that decision, because I depended on it. If I ran away now, I'd be throwing away the trust the ninja put in me.

The ninja pulled me out of a life of trying to imitate my father and doing serious bad things because of it. They took me in, and showed me that it wasn't about being seen, or recognized, or whatever it was I thought it was about. It was about doing good, doing what was right. And what was right wasn't easy. Kai had to give up his own pride just to see that I was more than just that bratty kid they were keeping at their house. Zane had to come to grips with his father, and his identity as a person. Cole and Jay both had to overcome hurdles that were holding them back as people just to see who they could really become. I had to stop thinking about all this, like I was some separate person from the Green Ninja. I was a ninja, like them. Ninja never quit. It didn't matter how easy, how hard, or how painful it was. I had to do it.

That was when I committed myself to the final battle. Nothing Wu or Misako said had done anything but make me unsure of myself and what destiny had in store for me. The ninja had shown me what I had to do. Lloyd Garmadon, and the Green Ninja didn't need to be two seperate things. I could be both. I wasn't going to be this idealistic figure that they all wanted from the Green Ninja. I was going to be who I needed to be. And that was what led me to telling them that I was ready, that we had to suit up and do this.

We immediately rushed our way to the camp we'd been continually breaking into since we came to the island. We figured Garmadon would be there, and we had to fight him. So we were confused out of our minds when we arrived to see nobody was there. The signs of life in the camp, well as alive as the Stone Army was, were gone. Worse, the massive weapon the ninja had reported seeing was gone. We were confused, obviously, but what scared us more was when the Falcon led us to the tracks of the weapon.

Now, the Garmatron wasn't the scariest weapon that we have ever seen, or even the biggest thing connected to the Overlord -for those of you who were in Ninjago City during the Golden Master, you know what I'm talking about. At the time, though, it was massive. The Garmatron used to be a large tank that had the sole purpose of launching dark matter into Ninjago before it became the tower most sources document. It was big, and most important about it was it was going right for the coast.

I actually am kinda glad it wasn't there when we got to the camp. The run over to the coast gave us time to talk and relax together. Dr. Julien made his way back to the Bounty, and I admit he was able to run for a lot longer than a lot of guys his age could. I remember him telling Zane that he'd see him back at the Bounty. Dr. Julien was confident that we would win. It gave me a bit more hope that what we were doing was going to work, and we could win this battle.

The ninja and I ended up reminiscing over the stuff that led us to this point. Jay started asking if this was going to be our last fight together. If none of the others had said anything, I would have probably lost all the confidence I'd pushed myself to have. I hadn't thought about the alternative. We'd faced death a lot, but since becoming the Green Ninja I'd been facing death a lot less. Or rather, the death I'd been facing was a lot more manageable. It really didn't help the others started chiming in saying they felt it too. If they were already so sure that they were going to lose, what hope did I have?

If we were going to look back at our adventures together today, we'd have way more to talk about. But, something about the way they all talked about our time together, made me happy. It reminded me that not even a year ago, I would have never thought I would be where I was. Misako insists it was destiny that brought me there, but hearing them all laugh brought my spirits up a little bit. The ninja just had to take out my awesome treehouse. Even Wu joined in when we joked about how we all thought he was a goner when the Devourer was unleashed. That was a nice feeling. Now we can't even laugh at how many times Wu has decided the self-sacrifice option is the only one.

Of course, nothing on that island could stay happy for long. We got our first taste as to what Garmadon was going to do to Ninjago when we saw Nya. I know most people in Ninjago don't remember what it was like being under the dark matter's influence, but I remember when I saw Nya. She was completely grayed out, like all of the colors had been drained out of her. Her eyes were that same sickly color the Overlord had, and she barely even spoke. She snarled at us and growled, almost like an animal. Seeing her felt… wrong. It felt wrong to the very core of who I was. That was what was going to happen to Ninjago if I didn't act.

It didn't help that the ninja decided to stay behind to fight her. Now, I'd never gotten to spar with Nya much, so I never knew how strong she was. With the dark matter influencing her, it was like all her inhibitors were off and her full strength was out. It was the first time I'd seen her do Spinjitzu, and she managed to knock Kai over in the blink of an eye. Nya was a beast. It was terrifying to think that everyone I knew in Ninjago, everyone that I cared about, it was all going to turn into what Nya had become.

Misako and Wu continued with me to the beach. When we arrived, all of the Stone Army was there, along with all their vehicles swarmed around the Garmatron. When I saw it, it was horrifying. I had that same feeling of sickness in my gut when I saw Nya. It was made out of dark matter, something that was the complete opposite of who I was. I didn't need my mother to explain it was going to tear Ninjago apart to know I had to stop it. It was even easier to see with the fact my father and the Overlord were on top of it.

I gave one last plea to father, telling him with all the conviction I'd summoned up that I didn't want to fight her, but I would if I had to. I'd convinced myself finally it wasn't about destiny, it was about doing what was right. Me saying that seemed to break my father for a brief moment. He dove into a speech, another bit from my father I will never forget. He said he couldn't do what was right, because the evil flowing through him would never let him. He lost his family, his home, and everything because of it. The only way he could be with us, was to make everything just like him. That we had made our decision and now… and now he'd make his.

His words nearly broke me all over again. Had he really been doing all of this, just for me? The venom had taken away his family, his status, and his home. It wasn't like he asked to be like that either, Wu had indirectly caused this very situation. My dad didn't have a choice. It was why he left me on the Bounty, why he only came back to save me and nothing more. He'd fought through the evil out of love for me, but he couldn't fight it anymore. Misako's words weren't enough to bring him back, either.

My dad firing the Garmatron, however, was what brought me back from it all. He didn't hesitate after he poured his heart out to us. He didn't even give me time to say anything else. Of course, the weapon had to warm up, and the Overlord pointed out how my dad had gone full monologue and ignored that fact, but it didn't change the fact he decided that his evil was stronger than us. He was going to chose the evil over me. I had to stand up to that.

And I did. I ran as hard as I could up the Garmatron. I had less than ten seconds to stop the firing. When I landed there, the look of shock on my dad's face said I could do it. I had to save Ninjago, I had to stop the Overlord. It was becoming bigger than just my dad and I, it was about the very fate of Ninjago now. And I was ready to stop it.

Then Kozu grabbed me. Kozu was stronger than anything I'd ever felt before. I'd gotten out of grapples and grabs by the ninja, but Kozu wasn't a human with pressure points and places to attack. He was made of stone, and when he lifted me up he picked me up I couldn't even move. I did all I could to fight, but it didn't matter if I broke free or not. He'd bought the time he needed to fire the Garmatron.

The first shell firing felt like nothing I'd felt before. I'd lost before in training, and even gotten my butt handed to me as a kid. But those were setbacks that involved just me. As I felt the Garmatron rumble from firing, I knew it. I'd lost. I'd failed to save Ninjago. I was ashamed of myself, and I felt my body go cold. My mother's scream was enough to tell me what was about to happen. I knew before the shell even hit Ninjago that we had already failed.

As if to add insult to injury, my dad fired it again. The second time felt even worse, since I was right there. I couldn't think of anything else other than the sheer horror of knowing what my dad had just done, twice. I could only look on in terror as Kozu just held me there, almost like I had a front row seat to the end of the world. And for all I knew… it was.

Wu, however, snapped me out of it. I had to focus, I had to do this. Kozu's grip was strong, but that didn't mean I couldn't get out. I had to rely on more than my own strength. Kozu wasn't putting pressure on me, so I was able to focus. I poured all of my power into Kozu. I felt him shaking as my power poured into him. I let so much off I think I created a beacon. I was a second from getting free, and ending the damage that came next.

I half wonder if my dad had intentionally built in a trap door just for that moment. Given that he'd been trained by Chen, it seemed plausible. He ejected me right out of the Garmatron, as if to tell me that I wasn't able to do anything. Wu and Misako got me up. I tried, I'd given it my all. Wu offered me some comfort in saying he knew I did. Miasko simply reminded me that the balance of light and dark had shifted. It was the perfect twist to the knife already in my chest.

My dad, however, wasn't able to take the time to think like we were. The Overlord showed his true hand and told him that he'd planned to doublecross Garmadon from the beginning. With the power that he'd gotten from hitting Ninjago twice, the Overlord took control of my dad. The ninja arrived just as my dad started screaming as the Overlord possessed him.

Having known what it's like to be possessed and have things happen to your body you don't want, I have even more nightmares about what happened to my dad. My dad wasn't just being possessed, his body was being transformed. The Overlord said it was a metamorphosis (I have Zane to thank for telling me what that meant since I'd dropped out of school). My dad's body twisted about atop the Garmatron as the Overlord took control of it. I watched as each of my dad's hands turned into massive animal claws, his body grow scales and cover him, and most horrifying, watch his face burst open and form a dragon snout. Even my dad's red eyes turned into two glowing twisted purple orbs. When the Overlord finished, the only thing I could even recognize about him was the helmet on his head.

The prophecy of the Green Ninja said that I had to face the 'dark lord.' I realize now that never meant my father. Misako says that it always meant my father, and destiny simply had a twisted way of making sure I did. To me, the Overlord was the one that I always had to fight. He was the one that I was always going to have to finish the First Spinjitzu Master's business with. As my father was taken over, the sickness in my gut sorta cleared my head. My father was taken from me. The Overlord had taken him from me. The Overlord was the dark lord, and I had to face him.

The more evil the Overlord had, the more he would grow in power. All of us knew that. I had to fight him. In an instant, all of my doubts, my fears and everything that had been holding me back seemed to clear up. I didn't feel any hesitation. I had to fight the Overlord. The final battle, it was going to happen right there and then. The Overlord said he was going to attack Ninjago City. Just hearing that, I knew that once he had that, it really was over.

We foiled his first attempt to attack the city by taking the chance to knock Kozu right into the cannon where the shell went. I will admit, it was the same level of satisfying as kicking Pythor in the face to see Kozu shot all the way to Ninjago. Kai commendered a turret to blast away the Stone Army's bikes, while Jay and Cole took out the other vehicles that had been giving us trouble. That left the actual army itself. Wu, Misako and I fought our way through them, knowing now the goal was to get to the Overlord. I got back up to the top of the Garmatron, and stood right before the Overlord.

A feeling of calm washed over me as I stared him down. I said exactly what I was thinking: all this time the prophecy was about him, and that it was always leading to this moment. He of course said he'd spent thousands of years planning this very moment, but I wasn't having it. This, as far as I knew, was the final battle. I was going to take him out, and take him out for good.

I blasted him with my power, and he punched me all the way off the Garmatron down to the beach. I focused as hard as I could to pull all the power the Temple of Light had given me. I blasted the Overlord with my power, and he responded in kind. With a body, now he was able to show the true strength he always had. His darkness was the very opposite of my light. When our powers clashed, I felt his power in my arms. I wasn't pushing against him, I was holding his darkness back. He was stronger than anyone I'd ever fought.

He tried to trick me by cutting of his attack and starting a new one. I pulled all my power I had and blasted him straight in the chest all the way back into the jungle. Before I could celebrate, though, he was flying through the air and crashing into the ground in front of me. Having been thrown into the ground twice already, the third time was enough to make me mad. We traded more blows, and the more I fought him, the more I realized that he really was powerful. The ninja stayed out of the fight, and I'm glad they did. He was stronger than all the four of them combined, and just after a few attacks, I'd already used more power against him than ever.

I knew I couldn't do it forever. He was an ancient being, and I was already tired from just a few beams. He taunted me, saying that he was able to do it for eternity. I don't know how long he and the First Spinjitzu Master fought, but I believe it. I couldn't keep up with him like I could with the ninja. He was right that the ninja couldn't help me. Just one of those beams and he'd likely put a hole in their chests. I almost believed him, when he said I was all alone.

Something, however, felt off to me. Something about his attacks, about how he threw me around. I've been toyed with in a fight before, and I knew that wasn't it. I knew that something else was happening with him. As he cornered me, away from my friends and family, I realized something. Something was holding him back. And when I realized that, I realized who I had to help me.

When my dad started to break through the Overlord's image, I felt something inside me. It was like hope in me burned so hard it was scalding my chest. My dad was in there. The Overlord had taken his body, but not his mind. Not yet. When we once more traded blows, I knew that I could take him. Alone, I'd never beat him. But, if my dad was with me, I could do it. I could beat the Overlord.

As if to add to my nightmares, each time my father broke through, his voice got weaker. It got more distant. He said he'd never let the Overlord take his son. My dad had fought so hard against himself to come and rescue me. Now, he was fighting against all evil. I screamed at him to fight. I needed help. I needed him. Everything that had happened to me, it was because of him. Everything good, bad, confusing, horrifying, heart aching, all of it was him.

So, when the Overlord stamped down my father's spirit, right in front of me, it snapped something in me. It gave the Overlord that moment to attack. All I remember was feeling my body suddenly wrapped up in dark power. It was like I'd jumped straight into boiling water with cuts all over my body. The first scream was all I got out before I was already passed out from the pain. I was awake just enough for him to wind me up for a throw, and then send me soaring across the beach. I wasn't even awake when I hit the dirt for the fourth time.

In the time I was passed out, the Overlord used his new form to open a portal to Ninjago City. He could finally cross the boundary, and after Dr. Julien sacrificed the Bounty to stop him from blasting me apart with the Garmatron, it fed him up enough to want to do the job personally. Kai tried to jump in after him, but he missed. The Overlord, Nya, and the entire Stone Army escaped to Ninjago, leaving us stranded on the Dark Island.

I didn't wake up for almost three hours, according to Wu. The entire time, the ninja sat around me, all afraid that I'd actually died. When I did wake up, I was woozy from the pain. I even asked if I'd actually won, as silly as that was. I only had to move an inch to feel my right leg was broken. It didn't hurt when I stayed still, but the second I moved it, it burned like fire. I was completely broken by the pain. I forced myself to my feet, just so I could see what happened.

While I was walking, I found a piece of the broken Bounty in front of me. On it, was a painting of the Ninjago symbol for destiny. Seeing it stung, and given I was already hurting all over it was a hard sting. Yet while I used it to hobble to the water, I wondered why I was still alive. The Overlord had tried to kill me while I was passed out, but he had stopped. He had been so adamant about the final battle, why would he let me live?

That was when I realized that this was only the first final battle. The battle we'd all been preparing for, hadn't ever meant to be on the Dark Island. It was always going to be on Ninjago, the island where I grew up, where we were told to protect, and what we had all let down. The final battle wasn't just one battle, it was more than that. We'd survived the fight, now we just had to continue the battle.

It was time for me to truly become the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master.

* * *

"Let's stop here," Lloyd informed Zane, "I'm still figuring out how to describe the next part."

"You've gone through quite a lot already in just seven chapters," Zane pointed out, "Though, I do agree it was a smart decision to focus just on these events. A good amount happened in just one day, after all."

"Yeah," Lloyd chuckled, "It really did."

A silence drifted over the room. The subject they were talking about was anything but light, and after the breakdown Lloyd had after the last chapter, Zane was waiting to see any signs of stress in Lloyd. He ran an analysis on Lloyd, and found, strangely, his heart rate was normal. Lloyd seemed to be perfectly… fine.

"Does the battle with the Overlord not stress you as discussing your father?" Zane asked carefully.

"The Overlord took over my father," Lloyd stated firmly, "He changed the entire battle. Nothing was the same after that. It's, easier to talk about bad guys that were just bad guys. I don't see the Overlord as my dad. After he made my dad into… that, it wasn't my dad I was fighting anymore."

"I see," Zane nodded, "I can certainly say that many will be interested to hear what happened on the Dark Island while Ninjago was being attacked."

"Yeah… actually, I wanted to ask," Lloyd looked up, "You know that pot we started on when the Bounty crashes next?"

"Yes, you stated you believe that it will crash in the next few hours," Zane nodded, "Kai is currently waiting to win the entire pot."

"Well… there's a reason I asked you to record with me away from the Bounty today," Lloyd eyed Zane, "Jay and Cole should be finishing the test drive of the new engines by now, right?"

"Yes," Zane agreed, "But, I do not understand why…"

Zane's eyes flashed with messages, specifically an incoming video call. Lloyd crossed his arms and waited with a little grin on his face. Zane answered it, listening to it intently. As he listened, Zane's face fell into a frown. After a few more moments, Zane inhaled.

"It appears you've won," Zane sighed, "Jay has managed to crash the Bounty while landing. Apparently, the new jets have a far slower deceleration than intended."

"I knew it!" Lloyd pumped his fist, "Yes! I'm so going to Mother Doomsday's tonight!"

"Good for you," Zane smiled genuinely, "You prediction was able to out predict even my own calculations. Well done."

"A gut feeling can overrule even a computer," Lloyd continued to grin, "By the way, I do want to keep going after the Overlord. We'll be getting to the Golden Master after this."

"I look forward to it," Zane stated, "I have enjoyed hearing our stories through your eyes. It has given me much to think about in terms of how I acted and the situations we encountered in our adventures."

"Well, I'm going to go find Kai and get him to give up the pot! Send him a copy of that message with the timestamp for me, alright, Zane?" Lloyd asked.

"Of course," Zane blinked, sending the message the second he did, "It is done. I assume you are going to see him…?"

Lloyd was already gone before Zane finished. Zane simply smiled and stood up, following after Lloyd in case Kai decided not to make good on their bet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas to all my readers! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!


	9. The Actual Final Battle

Given that I had just taken the ground to the face four times in a row, blasted by pure darkness and broken my leg, we waited until morning before we began discussing how to proceed. I was in and out of painful sleep the entire time. The ninja wanted to find a way off the island, as the Bounty being crashed meant we had no way to get home. Given that Garmadon had stripped his camp clean of spare parts, we didn't have the chance to repair it. At the time I physically couldn't do much other than hobble. We scavenged what we could from the Bounty which was when I started passing out. When I awoke for the fifth or sixth time, it was already morning. Dr. Julien had just finished wrapping up my leg, and informed me my leg was going to take weeks to heal. I tried to protest that would be too long, but I knew he was right.

So much changed in just a few hours. When that day began, I thought I'd be standing over my father. Now, I was laying on a beach barely able to get up without making my leg feel like my whole body did when the Overlord blasted me. The others had tried all night to fix the Bounty, but whatever the Garmatron fired meant just getting close to the main deck was, as Jay put it, "like walking into a sick ward." I wanted to help, but I was either passed out, waking up from being passed out, mumbling in pain, or passing out again. I spent a lot of time passed out that night and morning.

While we were waiting, we watched Ninjago go dark. It was strange to watch, but slowly, we saw it get shrouded in a massive dark cloud. Ninjago relies upon a hard balance of light and dark, and by attacking the light it was like taking weight off one side of a scale. It didn't take long for almost all of Ninjago to get swallowed up in the darkness. I'd say that it made me feel sick inside, but I was again hurting pretty bad on the inside. I event more ashamed of myself for letting this happen.

When the Overlord started attacking Ninjago, it made me think long and hard. The final battle, was never just about me and my dad. Like I said, it was always going to be me and the Overlord. The First Spinjitzu Master hadn't been able to finish the fight on his own, and I bet he even saw one day that just splitting the islands wasn't going to be enough. I hope that he didn't know it was going to be Garmadon that did it, since that would mean he maybe let the Devourer bite his son. But, he had to have known this would happen. He carved our battles into the Temple of Light, he built this place for us to find, he'd set up so many things just for us. He knew what would happen, and that meant he'd decided that we were going to finish the fight.

Maybe he did know that my dad was going to be involved. Maybe he didn't know. It didn't matter. He knew he couldn't win, but he somehow, someway, knew that I could. I wasn't dead, and that had to be for a reason. Maybe the Overlord was just cocky, maybe my dad was the reason, but I was still breathing. I could form a fist. I could fight him. In those early hours while I was in between pain induced blackouts, I was thinking about this. About my place in this world. This, wasn't just about me and my dad anymore.

Knowing that everything was bigger than me now… that's a feeling that's scary. I was going to have to fight someone like that. Even when he was still gathering power, he was beyond me. He was going to blast me away as I was now, if I didn't stop looking at this as just me, and my dad. I had to fight. I had to win. So, when the ninja started to lose faith on the beach, I felt angry. I felt angry, because I knew this was my fault. I'd hesitated. I'd tried to be someone I wasn't. I had to grow up, and be stronger for it.

All things considered, I think that was my first 'inspiring speech' I'd ever given. I wasn't even trying to. I was more or less just venting my angry thoughts to them to get them to realize what I was thinking. This fight was more than just saving Ninjago. We'd been chosen by him, the one that literally created the world. It didn't matter if we were ready for it, if we wanted it, we were now in his shoes. We all had to pull together our strength, and make it off this island. The ninja had pulled me away from evil and shown me how the world should work. Now, I had to have them support me again while we went to save our home we'd been spending this entire time defending.

It was time for me to stop listening to Wu, to Misako, and even in some ways to the ninja. I was going to become more than the Green Ninja. So, when Kai got ready to swim the entire ocean, I'd probably have joined him if I could have. I was… I think it's called self-actualizing? I was becoming the Lloyd I wanted to be, needed to be. Thankfully, the falcon came before I got myself so fired up with who I was now I decided to swim with Kai.

Of all places to go back to, the Temple of Light wasn't some place I expected. Now, whenever we go to some big important place, we don't spend much time there. Like, I don't think I've ever gone back to the Temple of Fortitude, or Chen's Island, or the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master, or heck even where we found the Oni Mask of Deception. Going back there felt right, though. It felt like there was more to it.

Sometimes I wish Misako was more open with her research. If we'd known there was a massive mech right underneath my feet when I was powered up, I probably could have done a lot more damage and even fought the Garmatron earlier. She just seemed to love to hold important information from us. The ninja's new elemental swords opened up the mech. Dr. Julien tried to tell us it wouldn't work, but that was when I got inside it.

Piloting that mech wasn't like any other mech I've ever gotten in before. When I held the controls, they didn't move like a normal mech. It was more like it just, did what I wanted. I mean, yeah, there were buttons, but the feet and arms moved as I wanted them to. It felt almost like I'd slid into some big suit of armor, more than a big mech. And touching it, I felt the power stored inside of it. It felt like my own, but supercharged. If you've ever grabbed onto one of those sparky balls that make your hair stand up, imagine that feeling, but pulsing through all of you and making all of your nerves feel charged up. It was… amazing. How the First Spinjitzu Master made a mech like this, I have no idea. I still don't care, it just felt awesome to pilot.

Of course, the mech could only carry me, maybe one of the others if we pushed it, but that was when the Ultra Dragon came back. I forgot that we'd left him behind to protect Ninjago… I really hate to say a giant four headed dragon was forgettable, but all things considered, I don't know what he ever really did outside the Ninjaball Run? Like, he was kinda more of like a housepet than something like that. Well, he at least got the others back to Ninjago.

It wasn't that long of a flight given how fast the Golden Mech was. It was just enough time for me to solidify in my head what I was going to do. I knew who I was going to be now. I wasn't going to hide anymore from my destiny. I didn't like that destiny, and maybe I thought it was cruel, but it didn't matter. I was forced to grow up, to stand in front of my father and be ready to fight him, and now everything that I'd been trying to avoid was ripped away from me. I'd watched my dad literally be stamped out, right in front of me. That thing, whatever he looked like, would no longer be my dad. It wasn't going to be my dad. That fueled me, gave me power, and most of all, gave me strength.

When we landed, it was bizarre. My mech was the only source of light anywhere. All the colors were gone, and everything looked like Nya had on the island. Everyone -except Dareth, as we learned later- had been corrupted. Jay and Cole saw their parents looking more like shadowy zombies then anything else. Everyone was just… shambling around. It was like we were the last shred of what Ninjago was that was left.

It was all thanks to the massive tower that Wu said was the Garmatron. How a tank went to a massive fortress overnight we didn't know, but given the state of our home, we didn't care. I was focused on the thing at the top. The sheer size of the Overlord now put the Ultra Dragon to shame. He was, as Misako put it, back to his original form. The sight terrified the others. I felt scared, sure, but I felt angrier. That was my dad's body he'd taken over. He'd turned my dad into that. He'd turned all of Ninjago, into that. I had to do something about it.

Our plan was relatively simple: the others would use the Ultra Dragon to draw the fire of the Stone Army, while I would use the Golden Mech to rush the fortress and go up the tower to get to the Overlord. We saw the Stone Army was guarding the fortress, so we mainly had to worry about their catapults. Thankfully, we'd taken out their vehicles on the Dark Island. I made a mad dash right up a street towards it, while the Ultra Dragon did its thing.

When I broke through the outer wall, I felt powerful. I felt like I could do this. I smashed and tore through the Stone Army with the mech like they were nothing. It was filled with the power of the First Spinjitzu Master. With this, I could beat the Overlord. I was ready to tear a hole right through that tower and climb straight up it piece by piece until I could fight the dragon that stood on the top.

Now, one thing that I've learned now is whenever I have anything cool, it never sticks around for long. It's like all of our vehicles only exist long enough to be used for one or two fights. Nya was manning a turret on the side of the Garmatron we never saw, and she blasted one of its arms right off. All that power and strength and confidence, it was taken away from me in a few seconds. Honestly, now when I think about that mech, I end up feeling sad at the end. If all it ended up being used for was just to get me from the Dark Island to Ninjago, I could have just taken the Ultra Dragon. That was probably the coolest mech I've ever seen and it was gone, just like that! I didn't get to fight the dragon in it for even a minute! I'll never let Nya live down the fact she took away the coolest thing I'd ever had… ever! Maybe there is another universe where I actually got to fight the Overlord in it. That would have been awesome.

At the time, though, I was being swarmed by the Stone Army. Now my broken leg mattered again, and I realized I couldn't do that much on it. The ninja landed around me and desperately began to fight to protect me. I wasn't hurt from the mech, but I was hobbled and couldn't fight as well as they could. The entire army was on us all at once, and we were forced to form a defensive circle just to go. We all fought as hard as we could. Anytime we blasted one of the warriors, they'd just get right back up. They never stopped coming. We could hold them back, but the situation only continued to feel hopeless.

We fought as hard as we could. We made a last ditch move to use Spinjitzu to cut through the army to the stairs. If we could get there, maybe we could make our way up the tower and survive. We had to win this. We were in the hardest fight for our lives we ever had been. But then, just like before, Nya shot us down. The action broke our defensive line and pushed us back. We were going to lose, and again, I felt that terror when I realized: I would die before I ever even got to the Overlord.

That's when something happened. For everyone who doesn't realize this, I need this to be said: Dareth saved Ninjago. He saved everyone. If he hadn't put on the Helmet of Shadows and stopped the army, I'd be dead. The ninja would be dead. All of you wouldn't have ever gotten the chance to do anything, to even be yourselves again. Dareth was the hero of that day. I know that everyone knows what happens next is more important, but that couldn't have happened if Dareth hadn't bailed us out. And seeing the entire Stone Army hailing him as the Brown Ninja, it was honestly pretty impressive. Dareth looked great in that helmet.

Not to take anything away from Dareth, but something about that fact has made me think. Misako knew that the helmet was able to stop the Celestial Clock, but somehow didn't know that the helmet was able to control the Army. The more I think about it, we had the very key to ending the entire conflict in our hands literally yesterday. Our entire race to put the helmet back could have never even been a chase if any of the ninja had put it on. Actually, we probably could have even used that to stop my father! We had the very key to stopping all of our problems, in our hands even, and apparently she forgot to tell us the entire story about the Helmet of Shadows? She'd been telling us everything we needed to know until then, I don't get why she forgot at the moment where it could have saved us a lot of trouble!

But Dareth was still awesome for saving us. Dareth, if you're reading this, thank you. I wouldn't be here writing this today without you.

I knew what I needed to do. I had to get to the top of the tower and fight that massive dragon. I was going to save Ninjago. Dareth formed up the Stone Army and we all let out a team cry. I kinda wish Dareth had his own elemental sword just so we could have done it all together. Having him give the final cry before he sent the literal Stone Army up the Garmatron, that was amazing. The Stone Army was under control of Dareth, the army that had minutes before gone to try to kill us. I just want to stress how awesome that was, and how important Dareth was even before the Resistance.

Nya shot them down, but it cleared the way for us to make our way up. Making the only way up an endless climb of stairs wasn't too much of a problem for the ninja given they'd used to live on the Mountain of a Million Steps, but the climb made the dread start to set in. We were literally climbing our way up towards our death. The Garmatron was a big obstacle we had to overcome, and I was the one that had to get up there. The ninja were carrying me the way.

That was when Cole got hit by dark matter. If the plan of the Overlord was to terrify me, it worked. Cole started shaking and gasping like something was happening to his body. I know what it's like to be possessed now, and I still don't know what was happening to Cole. I wanted to help him, but he yelled at us to keep going. He was going to be corrupted. If even the ninja could get corrupted by darkness, then what chance did I have?

Jay went next. He was carrying me all on his own while Kai and Zane kept the way clear for me. Jay saw it before I did, and threw me aside. He started to twitch and double over, just like Cole. He said to get out of the way. Before I could do anything, Kai was dragging me to my feet. I think he didn't want me to see what was happening to them. I was only getting less and less sure as we went.

Zane said that only one of us would get to the top. Kai said to beat the odds, but then I saw the others. Jay and Cole came from behind us, holding their swords out like they never should have had them. They were snarling, growling and lunging at us like animals. Zane said he'd hold them back for us, and pushed me into Kai. I was down to him, the one that had started me down the path to truly becoming the Green Ninja.

Finally, Nya popped up again to stop us. Kai said he'd draw her fire, and let me get my way to the top. Having Kai ripped away from me at the last second, it was enough to make me remind him they promised they'd be behind me. I didn't know if I could do this on my own. I was scared, I was more scared then I'd ever been in my life. That confidence the Golden Mech gave me, the awe of seeing Dareth command the Stone Army, it felt like a distant memory. We were just a few floors from the top. I wanted… I needed someone with me. But Kai refused, and forced me to go on.

When I finally got to the Overlord, that last bit of confidence I had felt like it evaporated. I was barely big enough to be one of his claws on his feet. He stood larger than any creature I'd ever seen. If that had been my dad's body, it wasn't anymore. The Overlord was pure darkness. At that moment, I knew that I was all that stood between him and total domination. As long as I breathed, he hadn't fully won. Just him looking to me, almost like I was some little insect, it pushed down everything I had in me at that moment. For those few seconds, I felt truly hopeless.

"There's only one Green Ninja." Kai said that to me, right before I got to the top. Kai gave up his hopes for me. All of the ninja, had done so much for me. They'd all believed in me. It didn't matter what I'd done, or who I was before. They'd all supported me. What Kai said, was right. Right now, I was the only one who could stop the Overlord. _Me,_ Lloyd Garmadon. Son of Lord Garmadon. The Green Ninja. For some reason, I'd made it there. Me. Me and me alone. I got enough of my strength to together to tell the Overlord I was ready to fight. Not for me. Not for the ninja. For all of Ninjago.

He tried to taunt me, saying I was injured and stood no chance. You know, maybe he was right. But I couldn't back down. I stood my ground. If there was a moment in my life I wanted to run more than I ever had, that was it. Right there. As the Overlord laughed at me, and told me to lay down my will to fight. I could have easily just let him win. But I didn't. I didn't need a sword to fight him. My power, was enough.

I mentioned earlier there was a revelation that made me unlock my True Potential. When I got to the Dark Island, I'd decided to act like some version of myself that was never really me. I was going to try to be the Green Ninja of legend. Something clicked for me, as I formed a shield around me. This image of who I was, was never an image. It was a part of me that I'd denied. That part of me, had wanted to fight the Dark Lord. Not my dad, but the Overlord. I'd decided to pretend to be this part of myself I thought was this, separate piece of me. When the Overlord covered me in dark flames, getting ready to blast me clean off the tower, I realized what it was I was missing. Why I could never have beaten him before.

In those few moments as I felt my shield ready to give out, ready to roast me alive, I saw it. There were two pieces to me. Lloyd Garmadon, and the Green Ninja. One of them was the son of Garmadon and the other was the legend that would fight the Overlord. I was so afraid to be the Green Ninja, I deluded myself into thinking that I had to _act_ like the Green Ninja. I had to put on this mask, and be me. But that was never me. I never had to put on a mask. From the moment I first awoke my powers, I was always the Green Ninja. I was so focused on Lloyd, I wasn't focused on the Green Ninja. I let the two sides fight with each other. Make decisions for each other. When I realized then and there, that those two sides didn't need to be separate, that's when it happened. It was like this wall inside me broke, and suddenly, I felt it.

That tiny bit of power I'd felt in the Golden Mech was nothing compared to what I felt next. When I was in the Temple of Light, it was like my strength was drained out and then purified. Now, it was like that power that was inside me was reacting with itself, turning into something new. Some sort of seal was broken, something unleashed in me. I didn't even know I was flying until I realized I wasn't standing on anything. The amount of raw power inside me, it was like nothing, nothing ever. Nothing ever comes close to it. I was the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. I was the Golden Ninja.

When before I could only summon the Golden Dragon by charging up my powers, I realized too I wasn't envoking some 'ancient fighting style' by using it. All elemental masters have an elemental dragon. I was literally summoning my dragon. It wasn't that large, but that didn't matter. I no longer felt outclassed. When I sat down on that dragon's saddle, I was now where the First Spinjitzu Master stood. I was light. Now, I wasn't just holding the Overlord back. I was going to force him back to the Dark Island. I was going to purify Ninjago, and save everyone.

The actual fight with the Overlord, was a bit of a blur. Each time I hit him, I wasn't just stopping his blows. I was countering them. We took our battle to the skies, as dragons should. I slammed into him, and my dragon knew what I wanted. We snarled and snapped at each other, throwing light all across his body while he tried to counter with shadow. I slammed him straight off the roof and down towards the street below, only barely saving us from crashing by charging my powers. Just a single charge from my hands was easily ten times as powerful as anything I could have done before. I was hurting the Overlord. I could win this.

Hearing the Overlord say he couldn't be defeated only made my light shine brighter. I know I said something about that to him. I wasn't thinking. I was letting this new power decide what to do. I knew what had to be done, and it was directing me to my goal. We soared high into the sky, fighting each other with all we had to give. Shadow and light were truly dueling. We were going to fight each other until one of us couldn't go anymore.

That was when the Overlord decided to end it. I suddenly found my dragon spinning hard, and all around me whatever little light came down into Ninjago was gone. I was literally surrounded by pure darkness. It was a darkness, not like anything before. Nothing but me was inside. It was meant to be one massive prison, one massive way to finally blot out whatever power I could give him, all at once. I heard his evil laugh just as I saw his face emerge from that darkness, and swallow me whole.

I knew what to do the second I was there. I was inside the Overlord. The shell around us was him, what he truly was. Nothing but pure, unfiltered blackness. When I was swallowed up, I had a chance to end it once and for all. I poured out every single bit of this new power I had, firing every single ounce of it straight up into the Overlord. I heard him scream as I did, but he couldn't release us. My dragon roared as I let out everything. Every single emotion I'd felt, every raw, unfiltered peace of myself, all of it poured out into the Overlord at once. I burned away every last ounce of him around me I could with my light.

When I opened my eyes again, everything was bright. Not bright like my dragon, but bright with the sunlight. The Garmatron was gone, and whatever darkness was around me was slowly, surely, burning away. I'd won. I'd saved the day. And, unlike the ninja, I didn't pass out. I felt tired, sure and I knew I couldn't keep flying forever… but this was it. I'd won. I'd actually, finally, done it. I'd fulfilled the prophecy of the Green Ninja.

The ninja were in the crater that the Garmatron formed. I flew down as fast as I could. I can't describe how amazing it felt to see they were all okay. Saving Ninjago is one thing, but seeing that I'd purified the ninja, Nya and the very ground we stood on, it was the relief I needed. Wu and Misako were already there to congratulate me. Everyone was. I was so happy… but I knew that I'd just beaten the Overlord. The ninja were vowing to defeat the Overlord if he returned, but I couldn't think about that. What I had to think about was the fact that Misako… my mother, she said she'd miss my dad.

There are rewards for doing good deeds, I think. Sometimes, it's just saying that you feel good about yourself. Sometimes, it's an award ceremony for helping free Ninjago from a tyrant. Other times, it's some sort of statue. But, right then, my reward was when I saw someone emerge from the rubble. Someone that I didn't recognize at first. I didn't know who he was. He looked like Wu, but he had hair like mine all gray, and wore robes I'd never seen before. But when he called out my name, and I heard his voice, I knew who it was.

My dad was back. I'd purified not only Ninjago, but my dad. Every single drop of venom in him, I knew it was gone. I'd won, and by winning, I saved more than Ninjago. I saved the one I'd been fighting so hard to never have to fight. My dad was there. My dad… my real, true dad. Sensei Garmadon.

I'd saved Ninjago. As me and my mother both embraced my dad, I was happier than ever before. I had him back. I could finally have a family. Maybe I was already grown up. Maybe I didn't have the time with them I wanted. But it didn't matter. The final battle, was over. I'd won! I was the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. I was the Green Ninja. I was my dad's son again.

I'm not ashamed to say I spent most of that day hugging my father. I was so exhilarated from what I'd done, I needed his comfort. As my mother hugged me too, I finally felt it. That connection between mother and son, I felt it. My dad being back, was going to mean way more than just saving Ninjago. It meant I had my family again. And as we spent that day talking, reconciling, remembering everything, everything else just fell away. I didn't care what I'd just done. The Overlord, for all I knew, was gone. I was free from this destiny, and I could finally be just, myself.

Destiny defied me. It wouldn't be that long before all that happiness I had would be threatened, all my power stripped away, and all of Ninjago at stake again. I'd won the final battle, but it seemed the war was about to give way to a new battle. One that would echo through Ninjago in more ways than perhaps even this battle.

* * *

"DONE!" Lloyd pumped his arm in the air, "We've gotten through the final battle!"

Zane smiled widely. Sitting beside him was Kai, who was leaning forward and listening with interest. Earlier that day, Zane had asked if Kai could sit in on this session. Lloyd hadn't seen any reason not to, and let Kai listen to some of the chapters he'd recorded. Already, Kai was smiling hard.

"So wait, are you saying what I said to you was what got you to become the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master?" Kai grinned smugly, "Like, I was the one that helped save Ninjago?"

"All of us helped save Ninjago," Lloyd shook his head, "But you did help a lot, Kai."

"Come on, don't be modest!" Kai smiled, "I was telling you that you were the only one who could do it. If that gave you a big push… well, tell me!"

"I believe Lloyd is attempting to spare your ego before you inflate it," Zane responded to Kai, "I did want you to hear some of his thoughts on this, though."

"Oh?" Kai smirked, "Why's that?"

"Because I know during the incident with Morro, you felt like you weren't doing enough to help me," Lloyd pointed out, "I think Zane wanted you to know that you helped a lot. I mean, I probably could have picked a better chapter to do it in but, I was doing this one already, and…"

"Well, thanks for looking out for me, little guy," Kai grinned, "You know me! Always making sure you got what you need to do what you do! The best backup in town!"

"Heh, yeah, Kai," Lloyd smiled, "You guys think I did a good enough job describing the battle?"

"It was rather short and intense," Zane nodded, "I believe you captured it just fine."

"You did great!" Kai smirked, "Really captured all that feeling we all had as we watched you go up that tower."

"Heh, good," Lloyd looked to Zane, "Are you free tomorrow to start going into the Golden Master?"

"I initially thought you would stop here, but from that last line it seems not," Zane smiled, "I am always happy to help."

"Are you kidding?" Kai turned to Zane, "You realize if our life was like a show, we'd be on season, like, 10! He's barely gotten done with 2!"

"I dunno why, but I think we're closer to 12 now," Lloyd shrugged, "But yeah, I still gotta do the Golden Master, Chen, Morro…"

"What about Jay's insistence on what occured with the Djinn?" Zane asked.

"You saw how hard the Mega Weapon was to do," Lloyd shuddered, "We might have to skip that one."

"Well, I'm happy to help you record whenever you have time," Zane affirmed, "I think your autobiography has just begun, Lloyd."

"Sure has," Lloyd sighed, "I'm starving. Let's eat!" The two agreed, and quickly the three left the room to head for the Bounty's kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Autobiography readers! Happy 2020!
> 
> I wanted to write this note today to tell you that I will be Going on Hiatus for a few weeks. The way that I normally write is that I build up a backlog of 5-10 chapters, do edits on them, and then read each one briefly for last minute touches before posting them each week. That way, I remain consistent, and my readers know when I will post. However, due to finals and the holidays, I've only written partway into Part 10 so far. I want to finish the chapters for Seasons 3 and 4 before I continue to post. It should take me about 2-3 weeks to do that, so it will be a brief hiatus! But one nonetheless.
> 
> I plan to cover the entirety of the series up through Season 11 right now. Season 12 sets have just been made avaliable, so most likely by the time we get to Season 11 we'll be far past 12. But I do plan to cover more than just Seasons 1 and 2.
> 
> Thank you to everyone that's left a comment, kudo/review/rating, and taken the time to keep up with the series. If you want to read more of my works, I have an ongoing fic called Enter the Ninjaverse. It's an action/adventure fic about Lloyd having to cross the multiverse to get his elemental power back and stop the Time Twins' evil plot. It's been a passion project of mine and I would love it if you would spare a read to it. I'll be continually updating it, so please check it out! Link Below:   
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20994173
> 
> Once again, happy 2020, and Ninja-go!


	10. The Worst Building Plan Ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned from hiatus! I hope that you all enjoy!

Borg, I like you. I think you're eccentric, fun, and you've given us some awesome tech. But I'll never trust you to build another building in Ninjago City. Ever.

Borg Tower has been a constant place of conflict in Ninjago. I defeated the Overlord there. It's also where we destroyed the Golden Master. And lately, it was where Emperor Garmadon set up his headquarters. While it's an impressive building, I can't ever go there without knowing what happened each time I've gone there and immediately want to leave. I know why you built it there, but you could have saved Ninjago a lot of headache had you built the tower literally anywhere else.

It's a great tower, and I know the city just wouldn't look right without it. I know that it has a lot of great facilities and is basically the place where all our own tech comes out of. And I even know that the place is just really cool to go through. But I seriously think it's probably the worst idea for a building, ever. Maybe I'm biased, but it's up there with Darkley's for buildings I think should be torn down.

A lot of you probably didn't get the full story on why the Golden Master happened, since at first Borg told the public it was an experiment that went haywire and then it turned into the Golden Master. That's somewhat true, if you say the building was an experiment. Things did go haywire, for us, and yeah, something in the building did turn into the Golden Master. What really happened to Ninjago, though, was honestly a lot simpler than it looks.

I messed up.

After I defeated the Overlord, I thought that was it. I thought my destiny was done, and that meant my story was over too. That I had hit my peak and that I had already made history. It wasn't like I was the only one that thought that too: Wu, the ninja, and all of Ninjago thought that my story was over. Everyone thought that I'd defeated all the evil in Ninjago, that I'd ended the Serpentine Wars, stopped the Overlord, and now I had restored peace to the land. It was back to the way it was before I left Darkley's, back to the way it should have been. And that meant I let my guard down.

My dad has told me again and again that evil can never be fully vanquished, and that whatever I did, the Overlord would have always come back. He would have found some way back into the world, just like how the First Spinjitzu Master found a way to prevent the battle from being lost by passing his powers down to me. If one of us were to get defeated, it'd eventually show up in someone else. If I had known this, I would have just never let Borg build on top of the site of the Garmatron, since it turned out the Overlord was still there. And at the very least, my dad didn't realize this until he met the Overlord again, so at the very least, I wasn't not being told important things I needed to know.

We don't know how he managed to hold on. I remember that the Overlord, when I first saw him, was a weird floating ball of gas. Given that his power was cut off when the First Spinjitzu Master split Ninjago in half, I imagine that his physical form regressed to that, which explained why he was never able to find a way back. By shifting the balance, he broke into Ninjago again. When I fought him and destroyed him, I guess I only took out his body. He was a being that was as old as Ninjago itself, and he'd been living on that without food or water, I think. If he'd managed to survive as just a spirit, then I guess the physical body was only a tool for him.

Still, I had never even considered that the Overlord wasn't gone. I mean, I literally blasted him apart. I was so bright he literally burned away. I don't understand how he even managed to stick around. He said he could never lose to me, but then he screamed when I blew him up. So, I thought that he'd just been taunting me, trying to break my spirit; typical bad guy stuff. The fact he was telling the truth, that he was actually still around, as if he'd just gone dormant after I beat him…

Wu says that a ninja should live so that there are no regrets in his life. My dad said that I shouldn't regret it. But, no matter how I choose to look at it, what happened to everyone in Ninjago, what happened to me… what happened to Zane, it was all because I failed. I thought the Final Battle, had been just that. The _Final_ Battle. That was it. I decided it was over, and let my guard down. I went around Ninjago, being hailed as its hero, when I didn't even know my job wasn't done. No matter what anyone tells me… I'll never get over the feeling that if I had just done my job properly, Ninjago wouldn't have suffered again.

After my dad realized he was reformed, he decided to take a vow of peace. After having spent his life until then seeking nothing but weapons and power, her vowed never to let those two things take him over again. My mother actually decided to settle down with my father and not go disappearing into Ninjago for months at a time. I helped them get a piece of land to help build their new Monastery. Given that I was literally Ninjago's savior, getting the paperwork done for that was actually incredibly fast. I wish it was that easy now.

I was only able to help my dad build his new home for a few weeks before people requested that I take a tour around Ninjago to receive awards for what I did. Basically, I got to tour Ninjago and go from town to town like a sort of traveling show and receive a reward from each town for saving them from the corruption. I tried at first to tell them that I had kinda been the reason that they got corrupted in the first place, but of all people, my dad said that I should go and see Ninjago. He told me to get more familiar with the world that I'd helped rescue. When I told him it'd take time away from me getting to spend time with him, he told me that I'd done Ninjago a service that was far greater than anyone had asked of me.

Maybe now, knowing that I hadn't actually done the service as well as I needed to, I regret actually doing that. It meant that for most of the time between when Ninjago was purified and the start of the Golden Master crisis, I was away from my dad. I only got to see him a few times when I was in the area, which wasn't often. I hardly got any time off from the whole schedule, since I had to go to almost _every_ town in Ninjago for those awards. At the time, I didn't think too much of it outside of the start, since I thought I'd have a lot more time with him.

While I was doing that, Wu decided to go in and turn Darkley's into his own academy. I told Wu he should just tear the entire building down. I don't understand why a school for 'bad boys' even exists at all. Doesn't that just say to the kids that get sent there that they'll never be able to do anything since they'll just be called 'bad' from now on? And it wasn't like that place had the greatest facilities either. It was always away from the big cities so it never got any new stuff or teachers. It's just such an awful idea to even send kids to that place. If I ever had the chance, the first thing I would do is clear that building out and then just tear it down.

Why Wu even wanted to build a school, I'm not sure. I mean, sure, I get that we all thought Ninjago was safe now. Nowadays, however, everyone in Ninjago knows this land is perpetually under attack. Wu knew that the Time Twins were going to come back in a few years, so settling down as a teacher would make no sense. And given how active we are in having to keep Ninjago safe nowadays, the idea of settling down to become teachers ourselves is just, a distant dream. At the time, sure, it felt like if our lives were a show, it was probably over. I guess the Overlord decided to start it back up again.

I wasn't really involved with it. I asked Wu why he made the ninja teachers since I'm pretty sure we were all teenagers at the time, or around that point, but he said that all their experience meant they had the ability to lead and thus the ability to teach. Yeah, from what I heard about that place, it wasn't really that great. Wu knew how to teach ninja, but relying on ninja to teach kids… honestly, I hear that the only reason that school stayed open was because of Nya and Dareth.

I went from place to place while they were handling the school, getting my awards. I still have them hung up in Yang's Temple… which, come to think of it we haven't gone back to ever since we rebuilt the Monastery. Huh. Well, anyways, I got to see every town in Ninjago, even Stixx. I won't lie… it felt great. It felt great to have everyone praising me after I'd spent the last month in constant pain and confusion about what my destiny was. After I'd had to put everything on the line for Ninjago, to get that validation, to have them say that I'd actually done good… it was just a great feeling. To everyone that did thank me, thank you. It was what I needed after everything that had happened to finally get back to being me again.

In those few months, I got used to my Golden Power. Having it was honestly the best thing in the world. I was able to do anything I wanted. It was literally me having the power used to create the world in the palm of my hands. Of course, I tried to use it responsibly. But being able to call forth a dragon at will -which at the time only I could do- and then use it to create an entire bridge out of thin air if I wanted to, man I wish I still had that. Or at least I got to learn how to use it more. It's a feeling of power you know is special just ot you, and more.

Most of my time after the battle was spent on that tour. I had heard what Borg was doing, but I didn't think anything of it. I kinda saw it like putting up a statue in a park. It was a way to show everyone that what was in the past was in the past. That, and I'm pretty sure it was prime real estate at the time. Borg had been doing a few small time things before then, but apparently after the battle, he'd managed to get a bunch of contracts and secure funds to build that place. I'm not sure how he did, Zane explained it once but I don't remember, but in a few months he'd managed to turn Ninjago City into New Ninjago City.

I like technology, that's something that the Golden Master could never take away from me. I love getting something with super cool gadgets and buttons and features. I love video games, even though Jay has and always will be way better at them than I am. I know Kai didn't like all those machines Borg made, and I kinda get that. I mean, if you got a headache looking at a computer for awhile you'd never be able to spend a day in New Ninjago City. It was a lot to take in, and not everyone is able to handle all that change. It was mainly centered around New Ninjago City, so I didn't get to see most of it until I actually came back.

So, most of you are probably wondering what happened. After all, it kinda all happened suddenly. In the course of a single night, all of the new tech that Borg had built up was just, turning evil. It seems like it was random, but it really wasn't. When Borg built Borg Tower on top of the Garmatron's spot, what remained of the Overlord's spirit latched onto his servers, and was reborn as the Digital Overlord. Jay called him the Digilord, and I think that's easier to say that Digital Overlord every time I wanna refer to him. So Digilord it is.

Apparently, the Digilord had been hiding inside of Borg's servers for months. Borg never told us exactly how long he'd been in there, but given he had enough time to make the weird Techno Blades, it seemed like a long time. Borg wasn't able to tell anyone, so instead he used a field trip that Wu had planned to Borg Tower to secretly give the ninja the Techno Blades. The Digilord was on the central harddrive, and if they could use the blades on that harddrive, it would permanently erase him from the system.

I actually used to wonder why they didn't just write a super hard computer virus to stop him. Zane says, however, that the Digilord was sort of like an AI program. He'd spent enough time in the system to learn how it worked. So, any code that Borg wrote he'd be able to eventually overcome. Given that the Digilord was already not originally computer code, Borg wasn't even sure that would work. So, he instead decided to write code into the Techno Blades that would act at the source, rather than trying to power through the security the Digilord put up around himself. Of course, that never happened, which kinda makes me wonder what the point of the Techno Blades even were but… well. They at least looked cool and gave us some temporary cool stuff.

So, here's what happened: on the day that Borg gave the ninja the Techno Blades, the Digilord found out about them and decided to fully hijack all of Borg's systems so try to stop the ninja from getting out of the city. He didn't know where the blades were, but had figured out Borg had made them, so he didn't want to strike until he knew he'd be able to take them. When the ninja tried to leave, he trapped them inside the tower. Borg made them new suits too so they'd fool the facial recognition scanners… which, I think helped one time. Either way, the Digilord made the city his in a matter of minutes.

I had been on my way to the school to surprise the kids when they got back. When I heard over the news that the city was under attack, I didn't hesitate to go and help out. The ninja managed to get outside the building when they found out that the Techno Blades could hack into any piece of technology the Digilord corrupted -well, if you consider touching the blade to something 'hacking' it- and used it to take over his security forces to make a stand. Wu and Nya were stuck with the kids inside the building, so the ninja were on their own.

When I got there, all I saw were all the ninja trapped together in the middle of the street, fighting back waves of robots. I did what anyone with my power would do: blast them all and then land to save the ninja. Since I'd become so powerful, I figured a full strength blast would have been enough. The Digilord, however, had somehow figured out how to absorb my Golden Power, and use it to fuel his machines. Borg said he was forced to learn how to convert my power into energy, which the Digilord was using to help escape the system. Either way, when I first heard the Digilord's voice, I was mad.

I wasn't really thinking much when I first landed and blasted away all those robots. The anger didn't really go beyond the surface level feeling of how he was back. I mean, I was here to save people, and I was almost instantly stunned the second I saw all those robots get right back up. My Golden Power was the strongest thing I had, and to see them just shrug it off like that was confusing. And seeing that they were able to just completely absorb it like that meant fighting them outright wasn't going to happen.

According to the others, I came in after the battle had already been going, and so my priority shifted from fighting to helping the ninja escape. Of course, the big issue was the fact that the entire security force was waiting to blast us the second that we left. I could get away on my dragon just fine, so the big issue was really getting the others out. But we remembered that the Digilord really didn't care about the ninja, just about the Techno Blades and me. So we came up with a plan, and Wu volunteered himself for us.

This is technically another self-sacrificing moment for Wu, and I mean I would be a little upset about it, but at least this time we were actually going along with a plan, and because of that his capture wasn't exactly unexpected. When Wu decided that he would trick the security forces into attacking himself to help us get away, we decided to go along with it. I didn't entirely like it, but we were already pressured for time and we needed a way out of the city. We didn't have many other options either, and so our plan was to have the main bulk of the security forces go after Wu while he secretly passed the Techno Blades onto Kai on the way. Meanwhile, I flew interference for the forces going after Kai and Zane, while Jay and Cole escaped on the ground.

We heard the sirens going off as Wu was captured, but we were out of the city before we were given a chance to see it. I, of course, wanted to go back for him, since Wu had actually just gotten captured, but it was more important to get me out of the city. As Kai pointed out, for some reason, the Digilord had said that he wanted my Golden Power, so that meant I was now a priority again.

I wondered at first why the Digilord would want the very thing that destroyed him. After I took a long time to think about it, I figured it out. Light and darkness are connected. Whenever one rises up, the other one fades out. Turning on a lamp drives away the darkness in a room. That connection between us was still there, and with him no longer having a physical body, it meant that he needed a new body. Since we were connected, it meant that he wanted to use my power, the power of creation itself, to create himself a new form. It's sort of the same idea as how kids say that they want to have a big giant powerful robot body, but instead of it being just play, it was him actively hunting me down now.

The fact that the Digilord wanted me for his evil schemes was a big enough issue all on its own, but we soon realized that this was an even bigger problem. During our escape, the Digilord used the machines in the lab to forcibly turn Borg into a, well, cyborg. From what I saw of him when it happened, it was like his mind was almost put to sleep and the Digilord was controlling him. It wasn't the same thing as when he had control of my dad, however; Borg wasn't conscious, and the Digilord couldn't manipulate his body like him, but it was still a strange thing to see. A bit stranger that Borg seemed to just take all of those robotic implants off later on…

Anyways, we spent nearly three hours driving around Ninjago just trying to make sure we stayed out of the scanners and anyone that could recognize us. It didn't help that we were all in brightly colored vehicles, and I was in my giant glowing dragon, so eventually we decided that we needed a safehouse. Going back to the Academy would be impossible since they'd clearly expect us there. I was done with my tour, so I didn't have anywhere that I could stay there, not like I would anyways. So, we had to somewhere, anywhere at all.

With Ninjago under attack, I made the call for us to go to the only place I knew we'd be safe. With Wu gone, we needed a new Sensei to help us out. We needed my dad. And the second I set foot inside that Monastery again, it was like an entire new chapter on my life had started. The time off from my last massive battle was done, and now, Ninjago had to be saved all over again.

In the span of a day, my adventures had gone from over, to rebooted.

* * *

"Rebooted?" Zane asked as Lloyd gave the wave to show he was finished, "Are you using the nicknames Jay has given to each of our adventures?"

"Uh… yeah!" Lloyd smiled awkwardly, "I mean, it's an easier way to refer to what happened. Nobody likes having to say 'The Golden Master Incident.' It kinda sounds like something out of a textbook. Jay came up with the name 'Rebooted' for what happened. Since, you know, we were dealing with technology and when you reboot something it like, restarts?"

"I am fully aware," Zane raised an eyebrow, "Do you have a name for all of our adventures?"

"Most of them," Lloyd thought, "Rise of the Snakes, Legacy of the Green Ninja, Rebooted, The Tournament of Elements, Possession, Hands of Time, the SOG, Hunted…"

"I know of them," Zane smiled coyly, "I just wanted to confirm what I had in my memory banks."

"Yeah, heh!" Lloyd smiled awkwardly, "...Uhm, hey, Zane. Can I, ask you something?"

"Yes?" Zane asked, curiosity in his words.

"Do you… regret, what happened to you?" Lloyd looked down, "Your, you know. I know you came back, and you got to meet Pixel, but you also lost the body that your dad built you. And, I know at the time you weren't really planning on coming back. Are you… do you feel bad about what happened?"

"If you are referring to my death, no," Zane's expression hardened, "I did my duty to both Ninjago, and my friends. When everyone was unable to fight, I was the only one that could step up. I have a duty to protect those that cannot protect themselves. If I were to live my life over again, I would still sacrifice myself, even if it did mean I would never see you all again. The Golden Master was going to destroy all life in Ninjago, corrupt it and change it to something wrong and impure. I hold no resentment towards what happened that day. We all fought our absolute hardest, and that means I have no regrets in that regard."

"Wow… I didn't know you felt so strongly about that," Lloyd pointed out, "But thanks. I was worried since I know that it was really only a few weeks, but so much happened and you were the one that ended up, you had to do everything. I just had to hear it."

"Of course, feel free to ask me anything you need to, Lloyd, as well as if you need me to send someone else in to do these chapters with you," Zane nodded his head, "Please, feel free to ask me for anything that you need."

"Gotcha," Lloyd nodded, "Let's go ahead and do the next chapter, then after that, I'm gonna head to the arcade. I finally got my old skills back and I'm gonna finally beat Jay at a video game!"

"That will be a sight to see," Zane smiled, "Alright then, let's continue, Lloyd."


	11. Sensei Garmadon, My Father

I talked about this in the last chapter, but after the final battle, my dad was never the same.

Now, when most people say that, they mean it in a negative way. But for me, it was in the best way. When I went into that battle, as I've detailed, I was all but ready to never see my father again. The prophecy said I'd defeat him, and to me, that meant I'd have to kill him. When the Overlord took over him, I knew that the battle had to be fought. I wasn't able to worry about whether or not I could handle that fight, because I had no choice but to fight. And so, when my father crawled out of those rocks after the battle, it was like I'd been given my own personal miracle.

Sensei Garmadon wasn't the same person that Lord Garmadon was. Without the evil flowing through him, he seemed far more calm, collected, and was a person that I could look up to. When my dad was evil, I always had to tell myself in the back of my head that he wasn't the person that I had always wanted to meet. I was a kid at the time, and while I admired him, I think I also knew by the time he left that he wasn't exactly the greatest person out there. My love for my father was being constantly tested, and I only got to see the dark side of him. Sure, he was doing evil things out of a sense of obligation, and doing everything he could to protect me while being strung along by what he felt was destiny, but he was still evil. When dad was purified, I was able to see the man that my mother fell in love with, the brother Wu had fought so hard for, and the father I'd always truly been hoping for.

Sensei Garmadon, my father, was an amazing teacher. I learned more in the few weeks that I spent traveling with him than I did almost the entire time training under Wu. He never held anything back like Wu did. He was upfront, forward, and he didn't believe in forcing any of us to learn on our own unless it was something that we _needed_ to learn on our own. If we asked him a question, he would answer it. Sure, he could be coy, but when you talked to him you never felt like he was doing it like Wu. Wu would be cryptic and annoying just to make our lives harder. When Sensei Garmadon made us figure something out, we felt like we learned something beyond just what the lesson was saying.

He was also kind. I always felt like I could turn to him. Even if I did something wrong, or felt like I was going to mess up badly, he never judged me for it. He'd scold me, yes, but he never forced me to go through anything alone. When I felt down, he'd be there to help me figure out what was going on and how to handle what was getting me down later. He always made time for me, even if he had to push himself to do it. I never felt like he saw time with me wasted, even if we ended up doing nothing but sitting in silence. He always did what he thought he needed to make me feel better. He… he loved me.

That was something that was always there with whatever my dad did: he never stopped loving me. Even if I was angry at him, he never let anything get in the way of his love for me. He did what he felt he needed to in order to keep me safe and get me ready for what was going to happen next. He never let me take anything for granted, but never made me feel like anything I cared about was worthless.

I think there's one thing that comes to mind when I think about my dad, and how much he really cared about me. I was really into Starfarer at the time, and I'd been collecting all my old comics. Well, when the Bounty crashed on the Dark Island, all of those comics burned up. I was upset by it, since I'd spent a lot of time working on keeping them all in good condition and all that. I never even mentioned it to my dad. On one of my breaks during my tour, I went and visited him, and when I got there he said he had a surprise for me. He'd gone and not only rebuilt my collection, but even got me limited run copies, gotten me a special sleeves for all of them to keep them safe, and built me an airtight case so I could store them without worrying about cleaning them. I never even told him about it… he just found them all, and gave them to me.

I know it sounds a little silly to say that my dad giving me a comic book collection he helped destroy was an example of my dad, but I still have that case. He not only built it to keep everything out, but he build it to last. Whenever the Bounty would crash, I'd always find that case, sitting among the rubble, not even cracked. (Now, it's in Yang's still disappearing temple.) My mom said he spent days doing research just for the best materials to make sure it would never break. He said that one day, he'd build me even more cases so I could put whatever I wanted into them. He never did finish the rest of them.

My dad knew about his past, and he knew that all of the things that he'd done were in some ways unforgivable. According to my mom, he spent everyday working hard to prove that he deserved this second chance. He took every single minute of every single day as a gift to him. All he'd wanted was to find a way to be with his family again, and the Overlord had manipulated that into his own ends to help restart the final battle. Now that he had the ability to do that, without having to worry about when he'd be drawn back to evil, he had dedicated himself mind, body and soul to proving that he would make the most of his new life.

I think that's why he took his oath against violence. Violence had been what had driven him away from me in the first place. The venom of the Devourer sparked evil in him that drove him to do horrible things. Things that he was fully aware of, and in some ways he knew he could control. As odd as it sounds, I think he took an oath against weapons as well because the Golden Weapons had been such a driving force for him that weapons became mixed in with evil. He told me once that a violent man would solve his problems and leave behind a flame in his wake, whereas a peaceful man would stride through the flame to leave only the grass behind. I'm pretty sure that meant that if he swore off violence, he wouldn't hurt anyone else, or so he hoped.

The Monastery that my dad built was a testament to this. It was slightly secluded, and I mainly helped him build the outer wall. He, like Wu, decided to dedicate himself to teaching. However, while Wu decided to become an actual teacher, Garmadon decided to teach his students the ways of self defense and fighting. The pinnacle of all of this was the Art of the Silent Fist.

In order to prove that one could fight without having to engage in violence, he developed the Silent Fist. In effect, the idea is simple: use your opponent's own strength against them. By dodging them, leading them on into traps or simply letting them exhaust their energy, you can defeat someone without ever needing to hurt them yourself. It's a tactic that's hard to understand at first, but once you see it, you start to understand it. If you don't know that your opponent is doing it, it's easy to get lost in it.

For example, let's say that someone is coming at you with a knife. You could try to attack them, or you could let them rush in and dodge to the side, letting them hit a wall. You could slide behind them while they attack and push them over. You could even grab their knife arm and then throw them forward so they stumble. Nothing that you do there is actually hurting them. Any damage they take is all due to their own attacks. It's incredibly powerful, even if it seems like you're just avoiding conflict.

That's the key to understanding the man that my dad was, in a sense. The very concept of the Art of the Silent Fist was that he could teach others how to fight without them having to go down the path that he had to. I remember he called it a 'kind way of fighting,' since you could make someone give up without having to hurt them. It requires that you care about your opponent and actively choose not to hurt them. Only he would take the time to develop an art like that, to work so hard at it and prove that it was actually viable in combat.

The night that we arrived at his Monastery was the night he was introducing that art to his class. We arrived and hid the vehicles in the nearby woods so that we could get into the Monastery without being spotted. Nya happened to somehow have a brand new ninja outfit for me, which I admit was pretty cool. As much as I loved the golden suit I got when I first fought the Overlord, having green was pretty nice again. It also had one of those facial hoods, which I again still wonder why we even had them given that the Digilord never had any trouble identifying us with them. It was a weird thing to have, you know? I also don't know where Nya got the new suits, but at this point I've just come to expect getting a new suit every year or so.

Now, our original plan had been to try to lay low at my dad's place since I knew that it wouldn't have anything on record for the Digilord to find. Of course, we didn't take into account that the Digilord would use his technology to forcibly probe Wu's memory and reveal he knew where the Monastery was… which, meant the entire thing was worthless in the end. Sometimes it feels when we plan ahead, we still end up behind.

I mentioned that my mother settled down in the Monastery for the first time in a long time. It's funny, since she really didn't stick around during that whole incident. She showed up, told us we couldn't take the Techno Blades into the Monastery given my father's vow, and after that it was like she was just gone again. I mean, it wasn't like I would have wanted to drag her into everything again, but it was something that felt a little weird all things considered.

We decided to join in on my father's lesson, and that was the first time I think the ninja had actually gotten to see Sensei Garmaodn ever since the actual final battle. I do remember that he actually reprimanded Jay for talking while he was trying to teach, which was pretty funny. Jay does talk an awful lot. In order to teach the Art of the Silent Fist, he asked for a volunteer, and so I decided to offer myself up for it.

My dad made a joke about me not using my powers so as not to destroy the place, and I didn't take that very seriously. He told me to attack him, and so I came at him pretty hard. I wasn't giving it my full all, but I wasn't holding back that much either. I haven't been beaten as badly like that since that class. I couldn't even manage to land a single hit on him. Everytime I'd go in for a kick, he'd just throw it aside like it was nothing. It was embarrassing enough that when he finally decided to taunt me, I actually got angry enough to try to blast him with my Golden Power. When my dad calmed me down, and I apologized, he said that I let my anger take hold of me. I don't know why, but he managed to completely emotionally destabilize me in barely even a minute. It was one of my first signs that I still had a lot to grow, even if I was almost all powerful now.

It was after this lesson that we saw Zane leading a tied up Pixel into the Monastery grounds. It was the first time I'd met her, and I didn't spend that much time with her either. Nowadays, Pixel is basically a full fledged member of our team, but for a long time she stuck mainly to Zane. I didn't know what to really make of her at first. I mean, I didn't dislike her, not even a little! But it's weird to think about how she is now versus how she was when we first met and she was still just a step above a full robot.

After Zane showed me what the Techno Blades could do firsthand by removing the Digilord's influence from her, she told us that she hadn't come alone. That was the first time we ever got our taste of the Nindroids. Apparently, during their initial visit to Borg Tower, Pixel had scanned Zane with his permission, and the Digilord had then used his blueprints she scanned from him to build a fully army of Nindroids.

Of all of the armies that we've faced -the Serpentine, Stone Army, Ghosts, Vermillion, all them- I would have to say the Nindroids are probably the coolest ones. I say coolest also knowing that they did try to kill us multiple times, but if you think about it, they're like something straight out of a comic book: a villain creates a better version of the hero to go and show the hero how weak they really are. And I admit, at first when I was fighting them, they were pretty tough. They were fast, strong, and since they were robots they didn't take damage in the same way. They never ran out of strength, and they all had a pretty creepy design. Being able to cloak themselves, fire lasers and fly all made them pretty strong too.

What made them the worst for me, however, was that I couldn't use my Golden Power on them. If I did, they would absorb it and then send it right back to the Digilord. Once again, I wasn't able to really fight. It wasn't as bad as when I was on the Dark Island, but I had to fight with just my fists. And punching metal robots doesn't exactly do your wrists any favors. With my Golden Power, I was stronger than all of the ninja combined. Without them, I was basically the weakest member.

Now, at this point, the Elemental Swords that the ninja had gotten on the Dark Island had vanished. I don't know what happened to them, but it meant that the ninja no longer had access to their elemental powers. It was weird, since I knew I saw Kai still having his blade when he woke up in the crater after the final battle, so I don't know where they went. I mean, they were literally swords that could channel raw elemental power from the ninja, so why they didn't have them, I don't know. Jay says that he misses them, but everytime I asked them about where they went, Jay never seemed to know.

I bring this up now since the only advantage that we had over the Nindroids were our elemental powers. Without them, fighting them went about as well as fighting your fridge would go. It put us on the backfoot, and forced us to come up with a plan to escape. My dad actually was holding his own pretty well with just his staff and dodging all the Nindroids, but the rest of us were losing badly. Zane was even beaten up enough that I got to see him with part of his face ripped off again. It's always creepy to see all those wires underneath him.

Our plan was pretty simple: we used the water wheel my dad used for power to make the Nindroids think we were escaping to go to our vehicles, then remotely started them and had them fly off. The Nindroids shot them all down as they escaped, which meant another cool pair of vehicles was completely wrecked. It's moments like these I realize we're almost never allowed to have vehicles that last very long. At least those vehicles we had commandeered, rather than building them ourselves. Makes the loss a little easier.

At that point, we decided it was best to split up. If the Nindroids had two priorities, that being me and the Techno Blades, it only made sense to split up. My dad and I came up with a pretty simple plan too: get lost. We'd simply get as far away from all of Ninjago's technology as possible, and use that to distance ourselves permanently from the Nindroids. To that end, my dad and I went to the Samurai X Cave, which I should say that at the time we didn't know existed, and would take whatever we needed from Nya to get out of there.

As a sidenote to the Samurai X Cave, it's a rather interesting place. I still have no idea how Nya built it on her own. If it was literally a cave, then maybe I'd be more open to it… but she straight up excavated everything from the ground and dug her own cave, added a system for opening it up, and installed I don't even know how many machines down there. I mean, even if Nya was working every single day that we weren't on a mission, I don't know how she managed to do that without help. And if she did, how did she pay off the help? It makes no sense!

But that's not to say the place wasn't cool. I mean, I love the Bounty and the Monastery, but as for the headquarters for ninja, I think a cave is just way more fitting. It's far more mysterious, a place that isn't easy to attack and destroy literally all the time, and it just has so many good options for us being up to make new vehicles and things down there! I do think Nya could have done without putting it in that super obvious thing. Like, once you know where it is, it's hard to forget. (And it's still secretive, even if we kinda forgot it existed for a long time, so I can't give more details than that).

My dad and I decided to take a car that Nya made for us and just get going. I remember my dad on the way to the cave didn't say too much, and since we were walking there that was for the best. Thankfully, I hadn't lost any of my training during my tour, probably due to me practicing my new powers, so walking all that way wasn't too hard. He was upset that it had weapons on it, and that was when I reminded him he was the one that grew four arms to hold all the Golden Weapons. He wasn't above joking about how somewhat ridiculous his plans were.

As soon as we left that cave, my dad said that he was going to start training me again. I was confused at the time. We were going to be on the run, and so taking time to stop and train didn't make much sense to me. However, he was adamant that we use this time wisely. After how I'd ended up nearly blasting him at his lesson, he said that I had been out of training for long enough. I was kinda confused at that, since he was the one that encouraged me to go on that tour in the first place, but now I realize that he meant it as saying that I'd been given a break, and now it was time for me to get back into it.

However, we weren't able to keep the car for too long. We were taking a rest after driving for almost the entire evening. At the time, the ninja were heading to the Central Power Station to help shut down the Nindroid's power source. We weren't paying much attention to that, since communications were likely going to be monitored. What we didn't know at the time was the fact that the Digilord had apparently managed to build an entirely mechanical dragon to come after us. How he found us, we don't know.

Given how many times that I've dealt with dragons, that was the second time that one had actually been coming after me trying to actually kill me. My dad was the one who spotted it, and we hightailed it out of there as fast as we could. The dragon was fast, just slightly faster than us, making it pretty dangerous. It wasn't a long chase, especially since when the ninja destroyed the power core, that meant the dragon collapsed to the ground right in front of us. I wish I had more to say about it but… not really.

That dragon told my dad and I two things: one, that the car we were using wasn't going to work for long, and two, that no matter what the Nindroids were going to come after us. At first, it stung again to have to be put out on the sidelines, but now that I was instead running away from danger rather than being held back from it, the importance of my new powers was weighing on me. I'd failed to defeat the Overlord, and now the Digilord was coming to take the very power of creation from me. I couldn't afford to let them take me, even if it meant running away.

And so my dad and I were together again, and my training had begun. I was going to learn how to control my new Golden Power, and my father was going to be the one that did it. And so we left the car behind, made our way to the coast and switched ferry to ferry until we had finally reached the outskirts of Ninjago. We were lost, and for the first time in forever, I was alone with my father. I was ready to learn how to become the true Ultimate Spinjitzu Master.

If only I had known just how little time I truly had left with my powers.

* * *

"Hey, Kai!" Lloyd called out as he made his way out of the recording room, "Wait up!"

Kai, who'd been walking down the hallway to get in some Spinjitzu training, stopped as he saw Lloyd coming towards him. After seeing the room he'd come from, Kai crossed his arms and smirked.

"What's up, my man?" Kai looked to the room, "Aren't you working on that book of yours?"

"Just finished a chapter, actually," Lloyd nodded, "I'm on my way to go meet Jay at the arcade now, but I needed to ask you a question first."

"Sure, you know I'm always open to those things," Kai grinned, "Especially if they're about me!"

"Why'd you hate all that technology that Borg made?" Lloyd asked curiously, "Back during the Golden Master Incident, you really hated technology for a bit there. Why was that?"

"Oh… that?" Kai chuckled, "Uh… well. I dunno. I mean, I don't have an issue with technology. Uh… well, let me think… we were teachers for a bit there, right?"

"Yeah," Lloyd mirrored Kai's stance by leaning up against the wall, "I just remember you really, really hating all of it."

Kai grimaced, "Honestly? I was overwhelmed being a teacher. I mean, heck, I didn't know how to teach kids! I wanted to try to act all mature and, you know, teacher-ly. And technology all just started changing so fast, I wasn't able to keep up with it. So I kinda just latched onto that and started hating on it. Not really sure why… I mean, I love my vehicles so like, I don't know why I hated it that much."

"Huh… that makes sense," Lloyd shrugged, "I mean, we did go from cars to hovercraft really quickly. So it's not that big of a deal. I'm doing chapters for the Golden Master, so I just wanted to know."

"Sure thing, champ," Kai smirked, causing Lloyd to groan at the nickname, "Anything else?"

"How many quarters you got?" Lloyd asked.

"Is this for the arcade?" Kai shrugged, "I don't have any quarters, I got some cash but I'm pretty sure I need tha-"

"I'm making a bet with Jay," Lloyd spoke up, "I've spent a long time training. I'm gonna beat him. And when I do, he's gonna have to buy us the new gaming console."

"Wait, you're gonna get him to buy you a console?!" Kai blinked, then he narrowed his eyes, "I give you the money, we share the console. Got it?"

"You read my mind," Lloyd winked, "Now come on, you can come with me. You weren't busy, were you?"

"Busy?" Kai looked down the hall to the training room, then he shrugged, "Nah, not much. Let's go!"


	12. The Power that Slipped Through My Hands

While I love my dad, I can't say that he was a very forgiving teacher.

After we'd managed to get far enough away from any major city we were out on our own, we spent the first night making a camp. My father decided that we would only make a camp to stay at for a full night every two days, and on those other days we would simply sleep for small amounts during the day so we could keep moving at night. I found this odd at first, but it taught me how to quiet my mind enough to sleep in almost any situation, so in truth it was a rather worthwhile experience.

It wasn't until we had built a full tent and got the fire going that it actually hit me that this was the first time I was alone with my father. I'd helped him build his new Monastery, yes, and I'd spent a bit with him after he'd been purified, but this was the first time we were actually _alone_ together. We weren't focusing on some task that was taking up our time, we weren't fighting, we were just a father and son, out where nobody could bother us. And when that happened… I realized that it was going to be the first time I truly got to talk to my dad like this.

Since we were alone, I felt the urge to ask him a lot of things. I tried to ask him about what it was like for him growing up, about his father, but he said that he didn't want to talk much about his past. He'd spent so much of his childhood being slowly poisoned by the Devourer, so I understood that. He told me that he'd open up and tell me what I wanted to know in a bit, but to ask about something else. That kinda left me at a loss, since that was the easiest thing I could think of asking him about. I wanted to know more about who the First Spinjitzu Master was, what it was like growing up, how he met my mother, those sorts of things. I wouldn't learn many of these things until a long while later.

We spent a long time by that fire in silence. I felt bad, since this was the first time that I was actually going to get the chance to talk to him. I felt guilty that I couldn't think of anything to say! I couldn't even just open a conversation. It was so easy to talk to him when we were on the run, doing things, but when we had nothing in front of us, I was just kinda at a loss for words.

So he broke the silence by asking me about how I was. I started to tell him I was okay, but I stopped myself. Because I wasn't fine. I had just been forced to flee the very guy that I'd thought I destroyed. I was angry that the Digilord was back, confused about my new Golden Power and why he wanted it, and wondering what he was thinking. I was thinking a lot of things at the time. I tried to think of some way to tell him that without just blurting it all out, but in the end I sort of rambled my way through it to him without thinking.

After I finished doing all of that, my dad stood up and walked over to me. I figured Wu would have probably smacked me on the head for thinking too much, but my dad instead put his hand on my shoulder and told me that what I was feeling wss natural. It was a natural feeling for me to feel angry and confused over why someone I thought was gone was back. I told him that Wu said a ninja shouldn't let his personal feelings get in the way, and that me feeling like this, wasn't what a ninja should feel like.

My dad said something that I wasn't expecting. He asked me how I felt when I first vanquished the Overlord. I told him what I felt: powerful, angry, determined and ready to end it all. When I finished saying all of that, he told me that was all exactly what I should feel. My emotions were part of who I was, and while I had to learn how to control them, to fully suppress them would mean that I wasn't making decisions the way I should. When I fought the Overlord, I made a decision to channel my emotions into letting me finally see who I was meant to be. But what I did was allow myself to use my emotions at that point. I had made a choice to use them.

Right now, I was angry at the Digilord. But as he talked, I realized that I was angry at myself. I thought I'd finished it. I was upset that my job wasn't over, upset that I hadn't done my duty, and upset I hadn't thought that he could come back. I thought my job was over, and wanted to move on from it. I had thought my adventures as a ninja were over, and I'd get to hang up the hood.

That was when my dad actually did hit me with his staff. I was upset at first, but he told me that if I thought that my journey was over after the Overlord, that was the sign of how far I still had to go. Threats would always arise in Ninjago, he said, and that I took an oath when I became the Green Ninja to help defend the land. No matter what happened to me, I'd have to be there to help defend it. I was confused at first, but the more he talked, the more I started to get what he was saying. I was being selfish to think that I was going to be done protecting Ninjago, after all.

I think to try and help me get my thoughts straight, he told me about how he and Wu first learned Spinjitzu, and how their dad had been the proudest the two ever saw him when they first showed it off to him. He told me that he felt that same pride when he saw me as the Golden Ninja, the sun shining behind me as I landed and embraced him. That the first night that we spent together, he hadn't ever been able to stop smiling embracing his son again. He told me how much he loved me, how much potential I had, and how I would only continue to grow no matter what. I would grow into a man, and that he was going to help me grow into that man.

I went to sleep that night feeling more confident than I had since this all began. In the span of two days, my entire life had changed again. Everything was spiralling. But being out there with my dad, helped give me something to latch onto. Something that I could really grapple and run with. I just wish I'd known that he was going to be an even harder teacher than Wu.

I was woken up from my sleep before the sun had even come up and forced to break down camp so we could keep going. In order to build my stamina, my dad made me run with him for nearly two hours, only allowing me three breaks that I would need to choose wisely. Each day that we were out there, the day would start the same. We would wake up and get running. It wasn't a very pleasant way to start the day, but I'm proud to say by the end of the two weeks we spent out there, I only needed to take one break.

After we'd finished running, he took me through basic training drills and exercises. According to him, I had to learn how to keep my heartrate up and stay alert for longer periods of time. I wasn't very keen on it, but he wasn't about to let me stop and think about it for very long. I always had to keep running, training, and working. By the time that we even stopped for breakfast, I was ready to collapse.

Each day was a completely different lesson too. One day the lesson was about learning how to control my breathing and such. We climbed to the top of a mountain and stayed in an area where the air was thin, and I had to work hard to keep my breathing under control so I could focus long enough to climb up. He claimed that if I learned how to breathe properly, I'd be able to do amazing things. I was so hallucinatory I swear I saw him punch a frog just to prove his point. I ended up passing out at some point and having to do so two more times just to be able to last up there long enough for my dad to declare I could move onto the next lesson.

One that I remember the most vividly was when my dad forced me to balance a massive stack of rocks on one foot. He claimed that everything in Ninjago was in balance, and that I had seen what happened when it was out of balance myself. Since Ninjago had leaned too far into machines, it had allowed the Digilord to abuse that new balance and return. If I were going to learn how to defend Ninjago, I needed to learn the importance of balance. Of course, he was also randomly throwing rocks at me to force me to completely rethink how I was standing at any given point, which didn't exactly make it any easier for me.

My dad stressed to me during that lesson that I had some sort of True Potential that I hadn't unlocked. I still don't know fully what he meant. I had beaten the Overlord, and I still feel I unlocked my True Potential when I first defied him on top of the Garmatron. That was when I felt all that power for the first time, after all. But I have a bit of an idea what he meant. I mean, the First Spinjitzu Master literally shaped Ninjago. He created everything we walk on. If I had his power, that meant I could one day do the same thing. I can't say that I wouldn't like to one day see what that would have been like.

Still, at the time I couldn't move mountains like my dad wanted, so we were forced to instead go over them. Every day he'd tell me that I could shape the land around me if I wanted to. When I was able to carve a mountain with just my mind to let us go through them, we wouldn't have to keep going around them. It was awesome to think about doing it, but actually trying was hard. When you lift weights, there's always that one hurdle you have to push past before you can actually push it up. Each time I tried, I could feel the hurdle, but actually trying to overcome it felt impossible. I mean, I was trying to literally move mountains!

So each day we hiked. My dad wasn't one for long conversations as we walked, more so giving me advice and talking about how the balance in Ninjago was important. Wu had talked about balance before, but when my dad did I always felt like he was talking from someplace more personal. After all, he'd literally helped destroy the balance and corrupt Ninjago. And when he did talk about it, it felt like he understood something about it that I didn't.

When we think of balance, he said, we think about just one side of it. Ninjago is a land of light, and so all we think about is the light side of the balance. But, if you truly wanted to understand the balance, you have to see the dark side too. If you focus on one side too much, you tip the balance that way. Ninjago leaned so far into technology that it allowed the Digilord to rise. But the fact everyone relied on it so much in New Ninjago City didn't mean that we had to get rid of all of it, just that we had to learn how to actually pace ourselves with it.

I think that's something that helped me to understand myself a little better. We always talk about our flaws, right? We focus on the fact that we have to get better. But if we focus on just erasing our flaws, then we don't really think about why we have them in the first place. Yes, it's important to work on improving yourself, but someone that sees the flaws in themselves and uses them to their advantage is the person that's stronger. My dad knew that. He knew what it was like to be evil, corrupted, completely flawed, and even now he was quick to anger. But he never let that anger, or his guilt, consume him. He used it to help him understand himself, to understand everything more. I hope one day, I can be as talented as that.

One moment I remember well was when we came to a broken bridge, and my dad said that I could form a bridge for us. I tried, but I wasn't able to do it. Moving rocks wasn't the problem, since I'd learned how to use earth when I was training to become the Green Ninja, but there was something just, different about all of it. Something felt off. I think it was because I wasn't just moving earth now, but I was moving _Ninjago_ when I did it. Even just building a rock bridge across a gap felt like something incredibly powerful. I guess, the easiest way I can compare it is like, if you change using a weapon? Using two katanas is going to be different from using a spear. If you switch to the spear, you'll have to start from square one. But in this case, the spear was the power to literally reshape Ninjago, so it felt like a lot to learn. If I could master it, I could do literally anything.

I ended up simply using my dragon to create a bridge out of the Golden Power instead. Dad was disappointed in me, but he recognized that it actually worked. I had a long way to go, yeah, but when I told him that I wasn't going to be the First Spinjitzu Master, he accepted that. I had to learn how to blaze my own path, and he got that. Sure, maybe I was taking the easy way sometimes, but that didn't mean that I was going to turn out wrong or anything. Wu would have just smacked me with his staff and told me to try it again.

Though, as a punishment for that, my dad didn't let me use the Golden Dragon anymore. If I wanted my power to obey me, I needed to be stronger. A lot of getting stronger is actually improving on your fundamentals. Of course, he did this right before we had to climb a massive mountain that was nearly straight up, so it definitely felt like a punishment. What would have taken five minutes was nearly five hours of nearly constant climbing. Once we got to the top, we'd be able to rest for the night.

I learned an important lesson on that climb. We found the nest of a Ravture, specifically with a baby inside. I didn't understand at that time that a Ravture baby would have to learn how to fly by falling out of the nest. If we were closer to the ground, I wouldn't have freaked out when it did and grabbed it. We were already above the clouds at that point, so it wasn't like me trying to save it was me doing something completely unwarranted. But the fact I touched it meant that when the father came back to check on its baby, well, it was after us

My dad was the one that it attacked first. I tried to use my power to save him, but my dad continued to insist upon me needing to learn not to rely on the power for it. I thought at first he was perhaps pulling a Wu and trying to martyr himself, but he had every intention of surviving. So when he did fall, I was scared. I knew that I couldn't catch him on my dragon in time, and I was still trying to protect the baby. I couldn't get to him in time.

So I did what he'd been telling me to do all day. I reached out, and felt that hurdle again. Before, I'd been trying to just power through it. This time, however, I felt the need to actually save him. And so I did. I reached out, and felt the world around me. I didn't just ask the world to save him, I commanded it. I wasn't talking to it, I was more… feeling to it. I was telling it through my fear to save him. And that's when I heard the rumbling. I saw a massive hand made of mountains reaching up and carrying my dad up to safety. I had moved a mountain.

That's when I realized what I needed to do. The Golden Power, wasn't like my Green Power. It wasn't a power that I could just mindlessly call on and use like the other ninja did. It wasn't tied to me, or the elements. It was tied to everything. I saw the Ravture baby finally fall again, but this time I hesitated to save it. And when I did, I saw it fly. If I saved it again, I'd be depriving it of learning how to fly. And so when it soared up to reunite with its father, I understood why my connection to the Golden Power was so important. It was tied to Ninjago as a whole. It was tied to the land, the life, the people in it.

To test it, I willed the mountain to form stairs for us to climb down the other side. Being able to do that felt amazing. I felt like I finally was on track to becoming the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. It was like I'd finished one race and just been shown the next race with a reward I never knew I wanted. I was going to be able to do things nobody in Ninjago could ever dream about!

...

Remember how I said that destiny was cruel?

Well, this was one of those moments when I felt it. The ninja sent the Falcon to us while we were descending the mountain, telling us that not only had the Digilord turned Wu into a cyborg, but he'd been revived by some stranger that was a Serpentine. We'd knocked out the power in Ninjago, but that hadn't even stopped him. We needed to get farther away, get lost even further. So my dad decided we'd go to Hiroshi's Labyrinth.

While we made our way there, with my newfound abilities, we made it there in only a day. I learned I could control water that way too. I reshaped a massive river to let us go by, then created a bridge across a massive ravine that just the day before I would have barely been able to do. It was somewhat exhausting, but my dad encouraged me to keep using it. The more familiar I got with it, the more I'd be able to control, the more I'd be able to do. Everytime I used it, each change I made to the world, the closer I felt to my own power.

Hearing that the Digilord was still out there, however, was infuriating though. I thought by taking out the power, we'd be able to just waltz in and take him out. Nothing was ever that simple. Dad told me that I had to protect the Golden Power. The stronger I got using it, the more people would want it. He even implied one day that my friends could even try to take it one day. One of the hardest people to fight are your friends. The thought that one day my friends could turn on me, try to take it all from me, it hurt me. I used to think it was just a distant dream. Now that Harumi happened… I understand even more what my dad meant.

The labyrinth was a massive jungle, and a dense one too. Thankfully, my new powers let me command the plant life to obey us and clear us a path so we didn't need to kill anything. Having the power made me feel more attuned to the life around me, oddly enough. If you think of Ninjago as like, this one big massive life of its own, then the Golden Power is me making changes to that life. So I felt more connected to it, more unique to it. We spent an entire day there, just taking in the beauty of it all. If you ever get the chance to go, I say take it. We even managed to find the 'jewel' of the labyrinth. It was beautiful.

Beautiful for all of a minute. We had literally just gotten there when we suddenly heard someone coming after us. When we'd talked to the falcon, it'd allowed for the stranger to hear we were going to Hiroshi's Labyrinth, and it seemed that I'd given them a path straight towards us by using my power over them. That was when I first saw what they'd done to Wu.

Wu, like Borg, had been turned into a full cyborg. Now, how this was possible I wasn't sure. My dad even commented on the fact that the two always seemed to fall on opposite sides. He was scary to look at, with a black beard, metal hat, machinery covering most of his face and wires and tubes plugged into him. I am certain that I remember that he had wires and tubes plugged into him. I mention that since as you all know today, he doesn't have those wires and tubes. I'm still not sure how that was reversed. It, was rather weird when he just, suddenly no longer had them.

My dad said he'd hold them off while I ran. I used my power to create a bike and fled all the way to the edge of the jungle until I reached an actual cliff. When I did, the mechanical dragon was back. While I was stunned, the Nindroids overpowered my father and managed to get him onboard the dragon relatively quickly.

That's when I heard the Digilord again. He told me that if I didn't submit to him, my father would fall. They had him over the cliff, and at the time I wasn't thinking of the fact there was water underneath. I used to think I was dumb for not realizing there was water, but Zane told me that you could easily snap your neck if you fell into water from a big enough height. So my fear at that moment was justified.

I wasn't ready to just give up that easily, though. Even if I knew that it would just strengthen them, I knew I could knock that dragon right out of the sky. All I had to do was snap its wings off. So I started to charge my power. I was so focused on saving my dad, on my anger at the Digilord, that I never even heard something coming up from behind me. Something slithered around me, and my powers cut out. That's when I heard his voice again.

It's strange. None of us ever considered that Pythor could have been alive. Wu had made it out, and the two had been eaten at the same time. Pythor was the stranger, and he said that he'd been digested before Wu, so he was now bleached white. The other ninja figured it out from Skales, but I was the first one to see him. Honestly, what confuses me now is how he fit his giant neck inside that tiny hood of his. There wasn't even physically enough space inside that hood for it!

As if to taunt me further, the Digilord ordered my father thrown off anyways. I saw him hit the water, and the Nindroids dragged me onto the dragon just fast enough I didn't see him resurface. All of the time we'd spent running, all of the power I'd just unlocked, was gone just like that. When I was loaded onto that dragon, it would be the last time I would ever have access to the Golden Power. Even as my dad began to swim after us, I knew it was over.

It was the last time I would ever feel the power that slipped through my hands.

* * *

"Done," Lloyd sighed, "I still don't like talking about that one."

"Why's that?" Zane asked as he logged the audio file and began the transcription, "Your power?"

"Well, yeah, that," Lloyd nodded, "But it just… reminds me that I never spent a lot of time with my father."

"You refer to the amount of time that you spent in total with him before Chen's Island, yes?" Zane inquired.

"Yeah, exactly," Lloyd sighed, "It's… It's not like I didn't make time for him. I tried to spend all the time I could with him. But after what happened to you and all the ninja broke up, I had to do a lot of things to keep Ninjago safe… I didn't spend enough time with him. And, even the time I did spend, was always while we were in danger."

"I see," Zane paused, "Might I offer my opinion on this matter?"

"Yeah, of course," Lloyd smiled, "I appreciate it when you do."

"Time that is spent with someone you care about is independent of the circumstance," Zane bowed his head, "I cherish the time that I spent with my own father during our reunion, regardless of the fact that we were dealing with the ultimate evil. I do not see any of the conversations we had as tainted by that. I simply keep the memories of us sacred and keep myself happy with those. Does that perhaps mean any thing to you, Lloyd?"

"I, think so," Lloyd nodded, "You're saying that, I spent time with my dad, and as long as I spent time with him that means I was able to have him in my life."

"Precisely," Zane agreed, "Thinking of it on those terms is a way to separate the reality of a situation from the emotions and lessons you gained from it. We all learned things through hard times, but we mustn't let what we learned make us upset to recall it. We take what we have and move forward with it. Remembering things with emotion is important, but to let it cloud our past is where we begin to fall apart. That, at least, is how I have come to see it."

"You really are pretty wise Zane," Lloyd frowned, "I… realized that I never mentioned your dad in my chapters. Maybe I should go back and add something about him?"

"What would you like to add?"Zane asked curiously, "He passed on when his time came. He lived a wonderful life and he loved me. I will miss him, but I do not carry any regrets when it comes to him."

"It was just, so sudden!" Lloyd sat up, "It, it was like we never really knew him that long. He had that elixir, but it just wore off? It felt wrong when we learned he had died. He was only with us for so long and, it feels wrong that he just died like that!"

"That is why we should remember the time we spent with him and not regret not having more,"Zane informed him, "I miss my father. He gave me life, I can never thank him enough for that. But when he passed on, he knew it was his time. Yes, it seems unfair and strange when he did, but that is a reminder that we all must cherish our time. We must make the most of it, and make a legacy that is worth remembering. That is the lesson that his passing has taught me."

"I… don't think I could have said that any better myself," Lloyd smiled gently, "Thanks. Do you wanna go get something to eat now? That one kinda took awhile."

"I believe dinner would be good to have around now," Zane closed his eyes, "I will send a message to the others."

"Sweet," Lloyd stood up, "Oh! Actually, after dinner, Kai and I are going out to buy some new games and controllers for the console Jay has to buy us."

"That was quite a sight," Zane recalled, "I've never seen Jay so completely drained before. I would suggest you be quite careful reminding him of this. Gaming is his hobby, after all."

"I know, I know… I didn't even know he could rage like that," Lloyd shuddered, "If he was half that angry in battle, I don't even know what would happen…"

"Best not to think about it then," Zane pointed out, "I will join you, I could use some time to escape."

"Sweet!" Lloyd beamed, "Come on, let's go eat."


	13. The Losing, Confusing Battle

I still have nightmares about what happened to me the day that I lost my Golden Power.

As soon as the dragon took off, the Digilord had the Nindroids throw me into a chamber specifically made to extract my Golden Power. He told me that our powers were connected in the same way light and shadow were, and that because of this I would be the key to his resurrection. He would use my power to create the body for himself that he had always wanted, a form that he could call his own and only his own. According to him, I'd played right into his hands.

I tried to break out at first, but the Digilord was ready for that. Within a second of me about to smash through the glass and out to freedom my entire body crumpled. All of that power going through me lit up through my whole body all at once, like something forcing it out of me and up to the surface. I wasn't given a chance to use it, however; the second that it was out in the open was the second I felt it being taken away.

When I was at the Temple of Light and first awoke my powers, I felt like all of the strength in my body had been drained out, then poured right back into me renewed. When that machine began its work, it was the opposite. I tried to hold onto the power, to stop it from leaking out of me, but it was like trying to stop a hose by putting your hand on it. The harder I tried to hold on, the more of it leaked out of me. It wasn't painful, but I felt sick. I was like I had a fever, and I was dizzy and could hardly stand as it was sapped from me. I was barely able to breathe. All of that power, all of it that I'd just started using, was being taken away.

The process didn't take that long. At most, I believe it took an hour. But it was an hour that felt like years. Each second that I felt power leaving me just made me feel colder, weaker, sicker. I felt like crying out for help, but I couldn't even move my lips. It was all I had in me to just keep breathing. I couldn't even try to open the container to let me out. I was just stuck there, stuck feeling everything being taken away from me, and poured into a strange coffin beside me.

The Golden Power was the power of creation. Because of that, the Digilord was going to use that power to create his body. I watched in horror as every second caused the strange swirling mass of darkness inside the chamber to take form. It was like watching something cooking up, rising, hardening, and taking its shape right before you. I knew that was the embodiment of darkness. I knew that was him. But the very power that I used to fight him wasn't going to work anymore. I was fully, and truly, helpless.

As my power was drained, I felt it turning back into my Green Power. The Golden Power was an evolution of the Green Power, and that meant that it was like my body was being devolved back into something weaker. I could feel inside me how much I was losing, feel what he was doing to me. It wouldn't kill me, I knew that, but I knew that I would never be the same again. And every moment that went by just made me feel… made me feel hopeless.

While this was happening, Borg came up with a plan. The Digilord existed in a Digiverse, and if he could send the Ninja inside with a coded representation of the Techno Blades, they could get to the source of his virus that way. It seems odd that the ninja never managed to actually use the Techno Blades to get to the actual harddrive. We'd based our entire plans around them using their blades to do that, but in the end they never even did. In fact, in the end there was never even a point to actually building the Techno Blades. I mean, they could have gotten out of the city when I got there, and it wasn't like Nya didn't have vehicles on standby in the cave if they were absolutely needed. And I never even got one. I mean, I don't even know what I would have made with one but… I mean, it would have been neat to have one. If they didn't even need them in the first place, it could have actually saved me from getting captured if I had just hacked into the Nindroids!

I didn't know at the time they were actually inside the Digiverse, or what actually really happened. I just know that when I was inside that tube, I felt something. I felt something inside the Digilord. While he was removing my power, I felt connected to him for a few moments. I still had my Golden Power, whatever was left of it. And as I felt it, I grabbed hold of it as tightly as I could. I knew that I wasn't alone. Not at that moment.

When I grabbed hold of it, I was making my last ditch effort to stop the Digilord. I was desperately trying to just defy him, to stop his horrible plan for just one moment. When I did, according to the others, I empowered all of them with the Golden Power inside the Digiverse. The reboot signal was being blocked by the virus, and was manifested in them having to redirect a beam of light into the harddrive itself. All I felt was the Digilord tugging on my power as I stalled his plans, stalled the upload for just those few, miniscule seconds.

I don't know how, but I felt the others with me in those few seconds. I felt them there. I couldn't give them my power… but I could redirect where it was going. I had to do something. I pushed hte power towards their voices, like blowing water out of a cup. Just the smallest amount splashing onto them, it was enough to give them what they needed. I wasn't alone. I couldn't be alone. I wasn't going to be left alone.

I didn't know what happened. I saw the Digilord's body rise up from the coffin, just as I was down to the remaining five or so percent of my Golden Power. Then, the Digilord started screaming. From what I understand, the reboot signal started to purge him from the system, so he was forced to upload the last bit of his consciousness into the body in those few seconds. Because of that, the transfer was cut off and the last bit of my power wasn't stolen. His body collapsed into a formless mass once more.

Of course, this meant the dragon went down. I used what last I had of my strength to drag himself across the floor of the dragon as the systems went down. I wasn't paying attention to anything, since I knew we were about to hit the water. If I was stuck inside it when we went under, I'd drown. I pulled myself with the last of my ability outside and out into the water below. I watched as the dragon plunged into the waves, and with it, I thought the Digilord was done for.

I made my way to a nearby village and collapsed there. They took me in, no questions asked, since everyone in Ninjago knew my face. That's when the ninja contacted me and told me that they would come and pick me up. I was relieved, but a few minutes later I passed out. I was so exhausted from everything, so tired and drained, I couldn't do anything. I completely passed out.

When I awoke from that, I knew that it was mostly gone. My power was drained to the point where I couldn't even make the dragon anymore. I could feel the embers of it inside me, like trying to light a fire with a few tiny flakes, but I couldn't use it anymore. When I called on my power, it was green again. When I first saw that, and I felt what happened, I had to force myself not to cry. I'd lost the ultimate power, and now, now I was back to who I was before I defeated the Overlord. I'd lost to the Digilord, even if I thought he was defeated again. I couldn't move mountains anymore. I'd lost the power that I'd finally started to understand.

Most of it. I could feel a small spark of it still inside of me. I was now 5% of the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. My dad told me that power was still enough that people would covet it, and that no matter what I needed to protect it. I wasn't sure why though. It was literally a tiny fraction of my old power, hardly enough for me to even see it as anything worthwhile to use.

I went outside after my dad told me that and tried to summon it. I figured that if I had a small bit of it, maybe I could move a small bit of the world still. When I tried, however, I could barely even make an anthill rise up. If I had trained with that power, tried to maximize what I had, maybe, maybe I could have had something there. But I had nothing.

It's hard to really put into words what it felt like to have that taken away from me. Maybe I'd been using it as a crutch until then, but I hadn't even really begun to actually understand it until my dad started to train me days before. I had just truly, fully, gotten in touch with what I could do as the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. I was ashamed that I lost my power, of course, since it'd been the Digilord that took it away from me. But it felt even crueler that I had finally been shown what I could do with it, and now it was gone.

I've read enough comic books to know that if a character in those gets a super powerful ability, it usually is either temporary or gets ignored in later issues. But, was that all my Golden Power was? Just some temporary powerup? I don't even think about it most of the time nowadays. I have so many foes to take on that just get stronger and stronger, I don't have the chance to really think about how easy everything would be if I had my Golden Power. I mean, yeah, I could have solved literally every single issue that we've faced with it if I still had it. But I also lost it when I was so early in my time as a ninja that it's hard for me to really think about that. I had just touched it, just finally felt it, finally, truly, gotten a grasp on it, when it was gone.

I guess, what bothers me is that I don't feel angry that I lost my Golden Power, I feel angry that the Digilord stole it. I had to move on so quickly from it at the time, I didn't stop to think about what I could do with what power I had left. What I knew was that the Digilord was still out there, somewhere. We weren't sure, why but all of the Nindroids were still operating with some goal in mind. If the Digilord was truly taken out, then it made no sense why they were still operating that way. I mean, they were robots, they wouldn't do things without reason after all.

This is when I made a choice. My dad said that one day, my friends could come to want my power. I couldn't fight them. But I also couldn't fight without them. I needed to lean on them more. The stronger that they were, the stronger the entire group would be, after all. While I was training with my power, I remembered something Kai said when I was at the Temple of Light. When I was being purified and given my new powers, Kai said, "give him your powers!" Did that mean that my Golden Power came from the ninja themselves?

It's a little hard to think about without getting too confused, given the strange way that our elemental powers work. From what I've put together, the ninja had their dormant elemental powers that were first brought out by the Golden Weapons. Think of it like, a gate that they let their powers flow out through. The Golden Weapons bypassed that gate. Then, when they were at the Temple of Light, their powers were awakened and their gates permanently opened. However, in order to give me my Golden Power, they instead sent that power opening their gates into me, and the Elemental Blades instead acted like the Golden Weapons again and bypassed their gates. That's the easiest way that I've come to explain it.

Now, if that was true, which I had assumed at the time, that meant that I could send my Golden Power I had left back into them to open those gates again. The ninja could train for years to open their gates without needing me, sure, but we didn't have that time. The Digilord was out there, after all, so I had to do something. So, I told my dad that I was going to go back to the Temple of Light and, basically, do the reverse of what happened and basically give the ninja their elemental powers back.

One consequence of this that didn't come up at the time, but becomes important later, is that it was my power that was opening up their elemental abilities for them. Even if I gave it to them, that power was still connected to me. So, if something happened to me where I wasn't able to use my elemental abilities (like, say, being possessed) that meant their powers would be closed off. But like I said, at the time, that wasn't important.

My dad, however, was against it. He said that by doing this, I was putting the ninja at risk. I needed to hone what power I had left and work towards reclaiming what was lost, not trying to give the responsibility onto others. I was shocked that he was so against the idea at the time; after all, I figured he'd be happy that I was making a choice that would protect Ninjago. But instead, he said that if I chose to do this, I would be making a big mistake.

Of everything that I've chosen to do, I don't think that what I did that day was a mistake. Wu always said that our strength as ninja came from the fact we were a team. If we weren't a team, then we'd never be able to do this. The ninja had been handicapped for so long not having their powers. I mean, nowadays it's really hard to imagine going into battle without our powers, but we couldn't rely on weapons anymore. Everytime the ninja had been in trouble, they didn't have their powers. It was time to just get that problem out of the way. Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today. And on that day, I could fix their powers.

So I did. We went back to the Temple of Light, and I sacrificed what little of my Golden Power that I had left to awaken their powers again. Doing that put a connection between us all that went deeper than us just being a team. We were ninja, and with our powers, we would finally bring down the Digilord together. My father grumbled the entire time, but as much as I cared about him, I couldn't bring myself to disagree with his opinion. I made a decision to help protect Ninjago, and in that, I helped bring down the Digilord.

With that done, we knew that we needed to hunt down Pythor and the Nindroids. For some reason, they were gathering parts all across Ninjago. They were never in a place long enough for us to capture them, so we decided to split up. We each were given a sector of Ninjago to cover, and I threw myself into the task. I didn't have the ability to make my dragon anymore, but I could still cover ground. We found out through a coded transmission that the Nindroids were working on something called Arcturus. I actually met the Anacondrai general that they named the project after. I guess Pythor had a flair for his tribe, even if he ate them.

Kai was the one that ended up tracking them down. Now, I do love Kai, but this is one of the dumbest things that he ever did. Pixal told Kai to follow behind their stealthily and simply find where they were going. It was, literally, the easiest thing that he could do. He was on a big open mountain pass, so it wasn't like he couldn't see exactly where they were going. But, for some reason, he at first tried to ditch Pixal so he could chat up some girl, then he _fired missiles_ into the air while trying to find the radio. Because of that, the entire mission changed from following them to getting Kai onto the transport. And that wasn't even the last dumb decision.

So, not only does Kai get himself spotted, ignore Pixal and have to get onboard, but he then, without thinking, doesn't put together that he's standing on a massive cylindrical vehicle that you see transporting oil all the time. Only this time, it was jet fuel. He managed to light the vehicle on fire trying to fight the Nindroids. So, while he's stuck on that truck as it basically counts down to an explosion, he also doesn't even realize that he threw a Nindroid right into the car he was driving, making it so he couldn't even escape that way. I don't even know how he managed to get off the thing before it exploded, but it did.

Of course, it couldn't end there either. Kai then had to, while hanging onto the bottom of the truck, start contacting us. Kai doesn't have a very quiet whisper. So, after not only ruining the expensive car we gave him, ignoring orders, lighting and blowing up a tanker of jet fuel, managing to go completely undetected on the bottom of the another truck, he then manages to get captured the second they stop because he can't remain quiet for a few more seconds! Had Kai not alerted them, he could have tracked them to Ouroborus and then we could have planned an entire assault on them. Heck, we could have avoided the entire bit that was about to come. But instead, we had to rush in, without knowing what was going on and having to instead rush to save Kai. Yes, we figured out where because of thinking about what Kai told us, but still. I should also mention Kai overheard Pythor saying the Digilord was still around, but we had already inferred that mostly by then.

Oh, and if you're wondering where Cole and Jay were in this… they were having a date. With Nya. Together. I haven't mentioned the fact that until now, despite everyone now knowing that Jay and Nya are a thing. At the time because of some random machine that Nya used the day that the Digilord showed up, she got into her head that Cole could be her boyfriend. So when Jay found out, he freaked out. And when he freaked out, he ended up getting into a big fight with Nya that spiralled into a… love triangle.

I think the entire thing was stupid. I have no idea why Jay was so angry over that, given that Nya hadn't even cheated on him in any way. I don't know why Cole went along with it instead of just talking Jay down. Apparently, while I was off with my dad, all of that was happening. I didn't have the time or the energy to care about it at the time. It started a rift between them for a while, but if you're wondering why I didn't mention that until now, I just find the entire thing silly.

Oh, and Borg was captured, again, by the Digilord. While the ninja were in the Digiverse, Borg's old robotic legs apparently attacked them and then helped capture Borg. Apparently they needed Borg to help build Arcturus. I don't entirely know why, given the fact they were all, you know, machines, and it feels random that Borg was captured again just to be released later on by the Digilord for… I guess he was just being arrogant? It just seemed weird that we freed Borg, only for him to do one thing for us -the Digiverse- and then get captured literally right after again, and then get freed again.

Right, right, and Wu was back. Yeah, Wu turning evil… was completely random in the end. I saw the security feed of what happened, and Wu apparently… just reverted back to his normal self the second that the Digilord was rebooted? Like, all of the tubes literally just disappeared and he went right back to normal. I saw the security footage. I… don't get it. I mean, it looked like he had things going into him, like, through him. But for some reason they all just, faded away? And what was the point of the Overlord even turning him evil, when all he did was just act like any normal soldier? He hardly talked, so it wasn't like he was actually trying to taunt us that way. And he was evil for all of a few days? And then he just was good again.

If you can't tell, a lot of what happened during this time was just, random. Really weird and random. And we haven't even gotten to the rocket yet.

Speaking of the rocket, we launched our attack once we figured out the Nindroids were using Ouroborus as their base. They turned the area underneath the main arena where the Devourer used to be into a massive bay to build… a rocket. They were going to space, and were going to recover the Golden Weapons.

Okay, so, apparently during that period of time that I just, don't remember, the ninja traveled to the past when Lord Garmadon tried to alter history so that I never became the Green Ninja. In order to stop him, they used the Golden Weapons of the past, to overload the… 'Megaweapon.' And somehow, that shot the Golden Weapons and 'Megaweapon' into space? And that caused the entire confusion around that period of time I can't remember, since somehow that caused the timeline to reset itself, but I still grew up with the Tomorrow's Tea. I don't get it when they tell me about it. But the reason that I had to cover that period of time was so confusing for me? That's the reason. I have to think about all those fuzzy memories because they were what enabled the Digilord to become the Golden Master.

For those of you that were confused, the Golden Master was a Serpentine legend, saying that one day, one with the power of the First Spinjitzu Master would enslave the world. At first, they thought it was me, until we realized that the reason the Digilord had stolen my Golden Power was to become the Golden Master. However, when we interrupted the upload process, it meant that his body wasn't able to maintain a form. So, he needed something that would still allow him to wield the power of the First Spinjitzu Master. Apparently, he hadn't gotten the 'power' part of the Golden Power, just the energy needed to give him an actual physical form to escape from the Digiverse from. So, somehow, getting the Golden Weapons would allow him to create a full body for himself, and then become the Golden Master.

If you're confused by all of that… that basically sums up how I felt for the entire time after my Golden Power was sucked out of me.

So, anyways. We get to Ouroborus, and when we get there we fall right into the launch chamber. Jay sees that Arcturus wasn't some plan, it was a rocket. A rocket ship. Something that they were going to space with. The Nindroids plan was to go to space to a comet that the Golden Weapons (which, I guess was double the weapons since by going into the past the Megaweapon was up there too…?) were on and take them back. Pythor had Kai strung up to one of the exhausts, meaning that when it fired it was going to fry him.

Because of that situation, we were split between having to save Kai and get the launch key. Everything that happened there was mostly a blur. I went after the launch key, but Cryptor was in front of me. Cryptor was the general of the Nindroids, which is why we have him as a stand in for the incident in the museum. I didn't have the ability to fight Cryptor alone, and Borg, still taken over at the time, started the rocket launch sequence.

We saved Kai, and we had a choice to make. We couldn't let the Digilord become the Golden Master. We had to stop him, somehow. And in order to do that, we needed to stop the Nindroids. But we had to either run so as not to get burned up by the rocket, or get on the rocket and stop them that way.

I was the one that got on board the rocket first. I told them that we had to do this. We were ninja, and we couldn't let the Digilord become the Golden Master. If he did, that would be the end of everything. The others protested, but we were under a time limit. They either needed to be with me, or against me. I gave them my power so we would always support each other, and now, I needed them to support me. I didn't really give them a choice in the end, and the five of us got on the rocket ship.

And with that, we were off to space, to continue the losing, confusing battle.

* * *

"I did not realize you had so much disdain for what happened," Zane told Lloyd as the two walked their way to the training area.

"It's not that I hate what happened, it's just, confusing!" Lloyd sighed in exasperation, "Like. It was simple at first, to protect my Golden Power. But then we had to go to Space, and then the Golden Master, and all that time travel stuff you guys claim you did-"

"I believe the events are proof that we did," Zane interjected.

"-They all just confuse me!" Lloyd rubbed his head, "And it doesn't help it was literally after I lost the power of the First Spinjitzu Master. So much stuff was happening, it just doesn't make any sense!"

Zane opened the door to the training room. After hitting a few buttons, several objects inside of it sunk into the floor, causing several pillars to rise up in their place. After hitting a few more presets for the _Spinjitzu Combat Training _course, several elements in the floor began rough, changed elevation, and made the area overall tricky to navigate.

"Perhaps training would help to clear your mind?" Zane suggested, "It relieves stress, and combat training will do so far more than simple exercises."

"Well… Wu is getting on us about our Spinjitzu," Lloyd shrugged, drawing his golden sword, "Alright, let's do it."

"Indeed," Zane strapped his bow to his back and brought his fists up, "Shall we set anything up for the winner?"

"Dishes?" Lloyd suggested with a chuckle, "Nah, how about just bragging rights?"

"I will accept that, though I am not one to rub my victory to others," Zane smiled.

"Are you saying you already know you're gonna win?" Lloyd smirked back.

"The probability of doing so is in my favor, yes," Zane drew his bow and loaded a blunted arrow into it, "I am a Nindroid, after all. My calculations are always precise."

"I'm sure they are," Lloyd took his stance on the other end of the arena, "Let's do this! NINJAGO!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings Autobiography readers! I have a small update for you!
> 
> For one, there are only a few more chapters left in the chapters for Season 3! Given this season is shorter than the others, there was only so much content I wanted to cover. I'm not currently decided if I will go back on hiatus once I finish posting the chapters. I haven't gotten very far on planning out the ones for Season 4, so I'll need to see where I am when these are done.
> 
> Secondly, Enter the Ninjaverse has completed its edits for the next arc and will begin posting this Friday! Finally, after over a month of editing and revising, I've gotten the arc to a good place. I hope that you all will enjoy!
> 
> Thirdly, I always love to read your comments and reviews. Let me know what you're all thinking about this latest arc if you'd like! I always love reading your ideas, thoughts, or whatever you have to say. I love writing these things to see how people react. This story has done a lot better than I initially intended, and I'm just happy to be able to share it with all of you. To all my readers, thank you.
> 
> Ninja-GO!


	14. That Time I Went to Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> Sorry for this being later than normal! I wanted to briefly remind everyone that Enter the Ninjaverse has begun updating once again. Thank you for reading, as always, and please feel free to leave a comment/review!

Let me just say, I don't ever want to go to space again.

Out of everything that I've done, this is one of the weirdest. It's one of those things that can't even believe I did. It feels so out of place given everything else that happened. It wasn't that long, but it was so sudden, confusing, and weird that I can barely even take what happened seriously now. And there's really one reason for that:

It was entirely pointless.

The only reason we went to space was to chase the Nindroids that were going after the Golden Weapons. However, as all of you know, the Nindroids did get the weapons and take them back to make the armor for the Golden Master. But when they did that, they weren't using the rocket. In fact, the rocket was basically destroyed when they did. They, using a net, flew the weapons all the way from the comet, back to Ninjago. The entire reason we went there was literally pointless.

Now, this means that the Nindroids have strong enough jets and armor to survive reentry. If they can survive that, and they were able to do so tugging the Golden Weapons in a metal net, what was the point of the rocket? The Nindorids had enough fuel in them to do that, so why didn't the Nindroids just take off from Ninjago and do it that way?

Even if the Nindroids couldn't have made it out of the atmosphere, why didn't they just build boosters onto themselves and use those to get out, then just flew there? They could have just made the equivalent of a jetpack for all of them, had one of them carry a net, and gotten there that way. Even if they did build the rocket, why would they not just use the rocket to get out, and then jetpacked their way there? I mean, yes, it was rough getting onto the comet, but they were able to survive leaving it, so they clearly could withstand that weird field behind the comet.

On top of all of that, the only reason we even knew what they were doing was because they were building a rocket. If they'd just built jetpacks, or even just something like a slingshot and given the Nindroids extra fuel to get back, we'd never have known. I mean, I'm not saying that I would have wanted them to, but just from a villain's perspective why give us the chance to see what you're building?

And okay, okay. Let's say that they absolutely needed the rocket. Let's say that they were just planning on using it to get back and the jets themselves were just a backup plan. Why did they have spacesuits on the spaceship? The Nindroids were machines, built like Zane. Zane was able to survive going out into space and not immediately break from the change in pressure (I think it was pressure that was the issue at least). So, why did they have spacesuits that had air in them, almost like they were planning on us coming along? And on top of that, why was there air being supplied to an area of the ship that was going to be detached anyways? What was the point of that? The Nindroids didn't need to breathe. It was almost like the entire spaceship was built for the sole purpose of us following them, and it makes no sense!

I mean, I guess I shouldn't be complaining that we were given what we needed to in order to, you know, survive, but it's those little things that make it seem like the Digilord was trying to sabotage his own plans. If we had jumped on the ship and then had no air, we'd be dead and his entire plan would have just succeeded, right there.

So, we'd just gotten onto the spaceship, and Jay was already floating around and having the time of his life. At the time, I was terrified of not having gravity around me anymore to keep me anchored. After I saw that Ninjago was now literally a planet away, the fact that I'd just decided to jump onto a literal spaceship occured to me. So, while I was in a state of panic, the others were starting to freak out too. Jay, meanwhile, was acting like he was Fritz Donnagan and launching himself around at a whim.

Zane logged into a computer on the ship and found out that the area of the ship we were in, a supplemental booster I think, was about to be detached. That's when my dad, Wu and Pixel got ahold of us. They read the schematics of the ship and found out about the extra spacesuits. Given that we couldn't go out into space other than the way we came in, we were forced to send Zane outside into space.

Here's the thing about space: you don't realize how terrifying it really is until you're actually out there. When you look around and realize there's nothing, literally nothing, for you to grab onto, it's horrifying. If we drifted away from the spaceship at just the wrong angle, we would forever drift in space until we ran out of air and died. When we first watched Zane fly out the ship and barely manage to get ahold of the ship, I realized that we were out of our element. If Zane didn't catch himself, he could have been lost forever. That feeling alone is… it's the thing that you feel in your nightmares. It didn't help that my dad was saying exactly what we were all thinking on the other end.

Zane, of course, managed to get us the spacesuits right before the booster detached. There was enough air inside each of them for what we were doing, which looking back on it I thought would have been an issue. I mean, all the space movies always emphasize how much oxygen you have, but for some reason the suits had just enough for us and was hardly an issue at all.

Our plan was initially to simply crash our way into the main cockpit and then forcibly turn the ship around. I don't know if that's how spaceships work, but we were taking each chance we got. Somehow, the Nindroids heard us and sent out their forces to the ship. Because of this, I got into my first ever, and only ever, space shootout.

Movies don't really sell the fact that there aren't any forces in space. We were being held onto the ship because we were holding onto the ship. There was no artificial gravity holding us onto it. Just one hit from the Nindroids would have sent us flying off the ship. Each step you took out there felt weird, since you're normally used to feeling the ground pushing back up on you when you do. Out there, however, there wasn't anything for you to press back against like that. If you even jumped, you'd go flying off.

Cole learned that the hard way. While Jay had stolen a blaster and was shooting them up like some sort of video game, I was using my Green Power to form a shield and slowly make my way forward. Cole tried to use Spinjitzu, and in doing so was sent flying away from the ship. Zane explained to me that Spinjitzu produces rotational force, and when you stop rotating, that rotational force is converted into a normal force. If you spin around and stop, you'll stumble forward, that sort of thing. Normally, there's air resistance to stop you, but there was no air in space. So, when Cole stopped using it, the force caused him to go flying away from the ship.

Jay grabbed an external cable on the ship and went after him. Watching Cole float away, however, was nerve wracking. I wasn't able to do anything since I was still taking on blaster fire (something I haven't had ever again), and so I was forced to leave it to Jay. I guess it's a good thing Jay was so reckless that he was willing to do something as crazy as jump off a spaceship with only a cable to bring him back, since otherwise there wouldn't have been a Cole to bring back with us.

To try to shake us off, Cryptor drove the spaceship into the tail of the comet, which as it turns out is filled with debris. Most of the Nindroids were either knocked off and away into space, or retreated the second we entered into the tail. There wasn't anywhere to take cover on, and so we ended up clinging onto each other as the ship went down. During this, Pythor and the Nindroids all attacked Borg Tower and forced my dad and the others to retreat with the equipment to keep in contact with us. Just like Borg, we lost the tower, retook the tower, and then had it taken away from us all over again. That's why the Golden Master was in Ninjago City that day.

Somehow, we were all knocked out and woke up on the surface of the comet and not flung out into space. Zane said we were lucky the impact also didn't break our spacesuits too, which I guess he was right. When we did, however, the Nindroids had already left in rovers to go and retrieve the weapons. They left one behind, so we crammed into that to go after them.

When we arrived, we saw them inside a small cavern I guess the weapons blasted into the comet when they landed. The weapons were now this massive ball of golden metal, and we watched one of the Nindroids touch it and vaporize. Since it had the power of all four (eight?) Golden Weapons inside of it, we were warned not to touch it. I know that it vaporized Samukai when he held all four, and my dad specifically had to absorb evil in the Realm of Madness just to be able to hold all four at once.

I'm not sure why it vaporized a robot, though. It didn't vaporize the ground that it was buried in, or the net that they wrapped around it, and they had to have melted them down in a forge that didn't vaporize. If the Nindroids were just machines, did that mean the Golden Weapons would vaporize anything that had a mind? I guess programming is sort of like a mind. But, I'm not sure why they would take out something that was just running on pure code and didn't have a mind of its own. Then again the Nindroid touched it against Cryptor's orders, which means the Nindroids probably had AI. Does that mean anything with AI would get vaporized too?

Anyways, while we were watching all of that happen, we started seeing these green beetles crawling over us. What was weird was that we could feel them crawling on us through the suits. Then, one of them bite Zane. We started hearing Nya through the comms, but it was fuzzy at first. We figured out just before us that they ate metal. Given that our spacesuits had metal in them, and Zane was made of metal, we panicked. Us panicking caused the rest of the swarm to start flying towards us, and we gave away our position as we tried to shoo them away.

While we were dealing with them, Cryptor put the weapons in the metal net and then loaded up the rovers. While we were starting to panic realizing that these beetles could actually kill us by rupturing our suits, I remembered Wu giving us some of his cryptic advice: if you can't change your circumstances, change yourself. For some reason, as I was being eaten by spacebugs, I remembered what happened with the Starteeth, and figured out we could weaponize the bugs against the Nindroids.

We hopped back in the rover and began our first space chase (another first and only for me). We brought the bugs with us, so as we got closer to the Nindroids, the bugs started attacking them too and disorienting them. Something that hurt you could also hurt your enemy. So we used them to help attack the Nindroids. During the chase, we managed to get ahold of the key to the rocket from Cryptor. Our plan had been to load the gold onto the ship and then take off ourselves, making it ours. There's not too much to say about the actual chase itself; it was basically like any other chase that we've had on, well, here.

However, when we got back to the spaceship, we saw something that took all the wind out of our sails: the bugs had gotten to the ship first and basically ate their way through it. Just look at the broken engines and the opened cockpit, and we realized that it wasn't going to be able to take us home. What we'd hoped would be a simple step had just been stopped, and we were going to be trapped on the comet.

That was when Cryptor and the remaining Nindroids all took hold of the net and used their jets to fly back to Ninjago. In truth, that was just the icing on the failure cake. We watched them fly way without us. If they'd been trapped there with us, it would have at least meant we fulfilled part of our mission, and that would at least mean we succeeded in stopping them. But no, we had to stand there and watch them literally fly away and leave us there, stranded.

We were only on that comet for another few hours, but it felt much longer. We had enough air to last us for awhile, but Jay confirmed that the bugs had gotten to everything on the inside of the ship, including the spare air. We were trapped there. Since the bugs were still there, however, we weren't given too much time to mull over the fact we'd never get home again. We were too busy making sure that we were forced to meet an early demise by those weird mutant bugs Jay kept calling 'glowies.'

The entire time that we'd been in space, starting from when I'd given up my Golden Power, my dad had been questioning my decisions. He told me after everything he felt responsible for what happened to me, and wanted to make sure I was safe. When he thought what I was doing was a mistake, he lashed out against it out of his own guilt. The thing is, I think that's what I would have done myself if this same thing had happened to one of my friends. While Wu had been passively giving us advice, my dad had been angry and trying his hardest to guide us. Hearing the two of them talking to us was perhaps the biggest sign of the difference between them as teachers.

While we were stuck there, the Digilord forced together the Golden Weapons to officially become the Golden Master. As if to mock the mech that had done barely anything at all, he made his own Golden Mech. With the power of the weapons, he was able to create a full solid form just for himself. We learned this through Borg who, after the weapons had been melted down, was released from the Golden Master's control. He specifically said at the time that he wanted Borg to watch Ninjago City fall, which seems right for the Overlord.

As we were starting to resign ourselves to our fate, I apologized to my dad for my decisions. I told him that if I still had my Golden Power, I could have flown us off this comet. If I hadn't split it up, and just listened to him, we wouldn't be in this mess. I expected him to come at me and reprimand me… but instead, he told me that he was sorry. He apologized for not trusting in me, and that I needed only to trust myself now.

That's when I realized that we could get off that comet. Together, we came up with an, all things considered, last ditch effort plan. Using what we still had left of the spaceship, we cobbled together what was basically a big can with an engine attached to it. Using Zane's computing systems, Kai's fire to weld the parts and my power to keep it together, we were able to create something to just barely get us off the comet.

I swear one of us must have insane luck, because it actually worked. We managed to get enough thrust to get home, and Zane guided us all the way towards Ninjago by using his heart (or half of it, he'd given half to Pixel at some point) as a power source. While we were flying, however, he told us that he was starting to reach critical mass. When that happened, he would explode. We had just entered the atmosphere, so we realized now, we had air. And by having air, we were able to use our elemental shields to fly back down to the surface, where Pixel sent our repaired vehicles out to catch us. Again, all things considered, that plan shouldn't have worked. I'm glad it did, but it would be like trying to build a diving board out of two sticks and a car door. It was a confusing and awkward way to end off a confusing and awkward trip to space.

My dad and Wu showed up in Nya's car, and together we all made our way towards Ninjago City. By the time we got there, however, the city had been turned into one massive fortress. Zane said it was just like when they were in the Digiverse. If that was what it was like inside the Digiverse, I don't know how they managed to reboot him in the first place. Still, we'd been driven in and out of Ninjago City multiple times, and now the Golden Master was behind those walls of buildings.

The Golden Master had taken my power and used it to turn himself into the ultimate evil. We'd done everything we could to prevent this, and failed. Now, we had to do something to stop him. He'd always been stuck inside some other body or place, but now he was free and open to do whatever he wanted. I'd beat him once, and I'd do it again. My dad and Wu were going to fight together again, and we were going to take out the Overlord in this new form of his once, and for all. I would never have thought, though, that it wouldn't be me that would land the finishing blow.

* * *

Lloyd panted as he leaned against his sword. He'd spent the last hour drilling Spinjitzu with Zane, and after that hour, he'd managed to land several blunt strikes on Zane. It was nothing compared to the number of blunt arrows that had grazed him, but he'd been making progress. Still, it'd been an hour of navigating the arena specifically shaped for making Spinjitzu difficult to use on, and by now he wasn't sure he had the energy to use it again.

"Perhaps we should rest now?" Zane asked, not winded in the slightest.

"Yeah… yeah a break would be nice…" Lloyd gasped for air, "Sometimes I wish… I was a robot… whew, I wouldn't feel so tired after all that training!"

"Being tired means that you have successfully pushed yourself to a point where you can grow and strengthen yourself," Zane informed him, "By contrast, my body will always operate at the same level as the day I built it. Being able to grow and develop is a wonderful thing."

"Still!" Lloyd slowly walked out of the arena to snag some water, "I mean, you can keep going forever if you wanted to!"

"That is indeed true, in a sense," Zane admitted, "But that infers that I am not bested by an opponent."

Zane replaced his bow on his back, walking over to reset the training arena back to normal. The two had completed another chapter and took the chance to train together again. Zane had noted that Lloyd seemed far more emotionally balanced when he trained after recording, and thus Zane had insisted that they make this a regular routine.

"So… you're really okay with doing the next chapter, right?" Lloyd turned, "I know you said you were already but I just, I worry. I mean, you'll hear me talking about your… you know, when you became the Titanium Ninja."

"You mean when I died," Zane stated with a small nod, "I do not skirt around that subject, Lloyd. I made the decision to sacrifice myself. I do not regret my actions that day, and thus I have made peace with the fact that I did indeed die. It was only by chance that I had my spirit uploaded into Borg Tower. If that did not happen, I would still be content with my life to that point. I protected you all, and that was all I wanted. If my friends live on, I am happy."

"I see," Lloyd paused, "Do you mind if I mention that in the next chapter?"

"Of course," Zane smiled, "I have had to do far less editing of your anecdotes as time has gone on, after all. You have seemed to find your pacing with this story."

"I know how I wanna approach it now is all," Lloyd shrugged, "I'm gonna keep at the training for a little bit, you want to join?"

"I offered to clean the upper deck of the Bounty," Zane shook his head, "I wish you luck in your training though, Lloyd."

"Thanks, Zane," Lloyd smiled, "For, you know… everything."

"There is no need to thank me… but I appreciate that, Lloyd," Zane affirmed, "Do not push yourself too hard."

"I won't, I won't," Lloyd nodded, turning his attention back to the training room, "I know my limits now."

"Good," Zane acknowledged, "Then I am off."

Zane left Lloyd behind, who set up a general obstacle course training preset for himself. With sword sheathed, he waited for Zane to fully exit the room before he threw himself into it, soaring through the obstacles as he let his worries be replaced by a calm determination.


	15. The First Time I Truly Lost

There we were, ready with our vehicles to storm the city. The Golden Master was inside, and he had the power to move mountains like I had been doing before. He was at the strongest that we'd ever seen him before, and we were going to finally end this.

Borg contacted us before we made our way into the city. Apparently, after the Golden Master had released him, he'd made his way to something called the Temple of Fortitude. According to my dad and Wu, it was a temple that the Overlord had created during his battle with the First Spinjitzu Master and, ironically, it had a seal that would repel the Golden Power. Borg claimed that he'd brought something with him that could help defeat the Golden Master, but we had to get there in order to use it. Our objective was set clear. I find it a little weird that we'd never noticed a big massive temple in the middle of Ninjago City, but I guess it was one of those historical sites that you never pay much mind to until you either visit it or are forced to flee being vaporized in it. It's also a weird to mention that Borg was, again, captured and freed from the Digilord's control, but by now I've mentioned how strange this whole situation was.

Because of the fact that the Golden Master now not only had my Golden Power but also the Golden Weapons, it meant that even getting near him wasn't an option. Just one touch to him, and we'd be done. Over. Gone. We'd quite literally vaporize, just like that robot (which I still wonder about). It was a bumpy road to get here, but we were going to end this.

As soon as we made our way towards the city, the buildings not only moved together to form a wall, but somehow, they seemed to grow up from the ground. I didn't need to hear the rumbling to know that my own power was going to be used against me. Jay and Cole blasted a hole through a parking garage to let those of us on the ground in, while the others fought the rising buildings to go over. Just breaking into the city was already a hurdle, and as we burst out into the streets, it was clear we were no longer fighting for the city, but the city itself.

On our way through the streets filled with broken down cars and Nindroids firing at us from all directions, Nya got hit and taken out of the sky. The smart thing would likely have been to actually have just one of us go after her, but for some reason we all decided it would be best if we all went together. In the heat of battle, it's not always the easiest to make the smartest decisions. We formed up and decided to make one big push through the defenses to get to her, but that's when we first came face to face with the Golden Master. Our vehicles were destroyed, again… making me question why we were given cool vehicles if they were just stripped away from us again.

When I fought the Overlord, he was far less unnerving as he was simply menacing. He was a giant dragon, and having known dragons, I wasn't terrified of his actual form. But what we saw on top of that weird mech of his was something that nightmares are made out of it. His essence seemed to be writhing and crackling underneath his robes, as though my power was all that was keeping it together. His limbs and face looked like they could suddenly melt at any moment, sort of like a metal that had just barely started melting. That body was pressed up against the Golden Armor forged from the weapons themselves, and the strange thing looked like a ribcage trying to just barely, hardly, contain what was already unstable. His eyes were the only thing that didn't change when we looked at him, as though they were the only solid thing about his body. He was a horrifying thing to behold, and even more terrifying knowing that touching him of his mech would spell instant doom for all of us.

As though to taunt us even further, he decided to attack us using Spinjitzu. I think he was the first person after Misako and Nya to use it in front of us, which I admit, only added to his terror. And, even more confusingly, the longer that he stayed out in the open, the more he started to grow in size. The tornado sucking up matter into it was almost adding to his bulk, and as we fled towards the temple, we weren't able to help Nya. We had to leave that to her while we were just trying to fight for our lives.

As soon as we passed through the gate to the Temple of Fortitude, dad and Wu were already waiting for us. They shut the gates and activated the 'seal,' which was more like this big forcefield that surrounded the entire building. Oddly enough, the temple was also filled with all sorts of other traps for the stairs, under the big dragon head, a cannon, a zip line escape feature… I'm not sure why the Overlord needed all of this back then, but he had them and we were currently too terrified of what was going to happen to us to really think about how to use any of them. I guess if this place was a toy it would be cool to have them to attack with. Not very practical in reality.

Just getting to the Temple had nearly killed us. It was perhaps only a few minutes, but catching our breath inside took a long time just to calm ourselves down from it all. The Golden Master not only held the advantage now, but he could easily kill us all if we weren't careful. And with Nya still down and out in the city, we had to come up with some sort of plan. The sheer size of his Spinjizu, the terrifying way that the gold from his powers seemed to drive away everything else when we were near him, it was too much for us to take on with just our fists.

This was also another situation where the battle would have been lost if Borg hadn't been released from the Golden Master's control. Inside the temple, he'd brought with him a dieting pill which, apparently, had the ability to shrink anything that ate it. Also inside the temple were old Stone Army suits of armor that could help us resist the Golden Power so we weren't destroyed upon touching it. While the pill ended up being pointless, had we not had the armor, we wouldn't have even managed to get close to the Golden Master. It's ironic that we would use the very things the Overlord used to fight the First Spinjitzu Master to help take down the Golden Master.

I'm not sure why the seal itself was a forcefield, but the Golden Master summoned all of the Nindroids in the city to help take it down. I guess since the Nindroids were connected to him, they counted as being repelled by the seal. While they were attempting to break into it, we had to come up with a way to deliver the pill to the Golden Master, since we weren't going to be able to just walk up to him and make him swallow it. That's when my dad and Wu suddenly started remembering that, apparently, at some point in their past they'd played baseball. They didn't call it baseball, but given the fact that dad said he was pitching and Wu was 'threading the needle' and they had a team name called the 'Templegate Tigers,' I'm pretty sure they were playing baseball. It was… a little strange to suddenly come up, but it wasn't important at the time. We needed to get the two of them close enough to deliver that pill to the Golden Master.

While we were forming this plan, the seal around the Temple of Fortitude broke, meaning I guess it wasn't very Fortuitous in the first place. I mean, it's one of the many places that we went to and never visited again, even if we used it to literally save our lives, so I guess it isn't worth going back to anyways. Like I mentioned, it's like the vehicles that the ninja used to escape the city and then… blew up, were basically blown up again after having them back for another five minutes. I guess we can add the hacked vehicles, Hiroshi's Labyrinth and the Temple of Fortitude to the 'places and vehicles we used once or twice and never again!'

Anyways, Nya had managed to somehow overpower Cryptor by exploiting the fact that Cryptor had been bullying a smaller Nindroid he called 'Minidroid' to help defeat him. She commended the Destructoid -which I admit is kinda a cool name- and used it to help clear a path for us to get out of the temple and out into the city again. Zane offered for Pixel to come with us, but she declined saying that he was more important. That was the last time that the two of them spoke, and when they did, it was saying they'd see each other again. Knowing what came next… I wonder what Zane was thinking.

Apparently, Golden Power could also control inanimate objects, or at least possess them, since banners and rocks were immediately thrown at us by the Golden Master as soon as we left the temple. Just like we were told, however, our new armor protected us from the blasts. It came at us so fast, I didn't even realize that I could have been ended right there by touching that power until after we'd already been hit by them. But that also made us all realize that now, we had a fighting chance. We could beat him now that he couldn't take us out with just one touch anymore!

The Golden Master had decided to use Borg Tower as the place for him to command the battle from, and so we were making our way towards the landmark. While we were on our way there, as soon as the Golden Master realized that he wasn't going to be able to take us out with just his powers, he decided to start attacking the people instead. Because of the fact he'd turned the city into his personal playground, the people were trapped holding onto ground that could erupt at any point. We were terrified that we'd have to stop and abandon the mission, since there'd be no point in saving Ninjago City if the people were taken out while we tried.

That was, all things considered, the first time that I saw that the Serpentine other than Pythor existed again. Apparently, the ninja had gone to them to find out more about Pythor when he was still the Stranger, and somehow, they'd managed to break open their tomb. I'm not sure how, given that Misako's scrolls said the tomb was supposed to be made to permanently seal away the Stone Army that remained in Ninjago after the split, but I guess if you throw enough snakes at t, you can eventually break anything apart. Skales had been watching the battle, and after the ninja asked for his help, he'd been considering trying to see what he could do to help. Since they had apparently renounced their war lineage, he decided to help us by evacuating all of the citizens underground while we continued to make our way towards the Golden Master.

Everything was happening fast. The further we went, the harder it got to get closer. And because of that, dad said that we were close enough once we were close enough to see his face again. Just as promised, the two of them stopped and got ready. Dad threw the pill in the air, and Wu knocked it towards the Golden Master. Given that we were not only a few blocks away, but were also under a time limit, the fact that shot looked ready to actually make it into his mouth would have put the two of them in line for the Ninjago Sports Hall of Fame.

That's when Pythor ruined our plans. At the last second, he dived in front of the Golden Master and swallowed the pill instead. He shrunk down to barely bigger than my hand, which was insanely satisfying to see in hindsight. The fact that Pythor, the one that tricked me, double crossed me, then used what I'd started to unleash the Great Devourer, somehow escaped what we thought was certain death, and then directly captured me to drain me of the Golden Power, was shrunk was just… it does make me smile, I'll admit. He was, in a way, my very first true villain that I had to fight, and now we'd beaten him. The Falcon, which I'd forgotten had existed at that point, captured him while he tried to flee.

Right then, however, it was having our hope almost literally snatched away from us at the last second. Our plan, which we'd been basing all of our hopes on, had been completely ruined in the span of a few seconds. In the few moments of shock that we had seeing Pythor ruin our plan, that's when the Golden Master struck. We were captured in the air by street signs and banners, almost like we were towels being hung up to dry. As soon as we were caught, I felt it. We were so close to the Golden Master that his power was starting to crack the armor. The armor had a duration it seemed, and it didn't look like we had long. We were caught. None of us could escape, and within a few minutes, we'd be vaporized and the last hope of Ninjago would be gone.

That's… when he did it.

…

There's a difference between winning a fight, and having a victory. You can win a fight, and lose everything. A victory is when you win on your terms. When we go into a fight with allies, we have an, assumption that we don't even think about until it's in danger: all of us are going to be going home together. We'll end the fight, and we'll all be okay. None of us had ever truly felt the fear, gotten so close to the idea that one day, one of the five of us wasn't going to be coming home that night. We'd never considered that one of us could… die.

That day wasn't a victory. We won, yes, but we didn't achieve victory. We were down and out of options, We had nothing, we could do nothing. Our trump card was played and now, we were just waiting for the moment we showed our losing hand. It hadn't sunk in yet, but my chest had started to go cold as I realized that I'd really, and truly, failed. I'd failed Ninjago. I'd let the Golden Master take my power, I'd failed to stop him from getting the Golden Weapons, and now I'd failed to minimize the threat to Ninjago. I'd lost.

What happened is something that I'll never forget. I don't care that he came back. I don't care that most people in Ninjago now don't even remember what he was like before he rebuilt himself. To us, Zane wasn't a robot. He wasn't just some machine that looked human. We'd fought with him, we'd grown with him, trained with him, we'd come to see him as far more than just some sort of machine that could imitate us so well. Zane, was our brother. And so when he managed to escape for a few seconds, he wasn't fighting with the knowledge that he'd make it out. He was going to save us.

My gaze was fixed on the Golden Master. Zane asked us to support him for one final time. We all heard it, but didn't know what he meant. At first, it seemed he meant it literally, since he used our heads to jump his way to the Golden Master. But when he grabbed hold of the mech itself, taking on the full power of the Golden Weapons and Golden Power at once, I knew what he was doing.

Earlier, he'd mentioned critical mass. Zane was pouring out literally every ounce of power he had in himself, every bit of ice, and everything that he was to contain the Golden Master. He wasn't trying to stop the Golden Master, he was trying to fully end him. I was too stunned to say anything outside of the fact he wasn't letting go. He wasn't trying to escape, or fight back. He was doing the one thing that he could do to save Ninjago… to save all of us.

All of the power in the city started to suck right up towards him. Zane was taking on the power of the Golden Master into himself to trigger his critical mass. When I'd beaten him, I'd left a small part of him, the smallest embers of his spirit stuck in the ground. Zane wasn't going to do that. I'd made that mistake once, and he was going to make sure it wouldn't happen again. Pieces of Zane started to break off just trying to contain the power going through him, but he refused to let go. When he froze the Golden Master in place… that was when I realized we couldn't stop him. He was determined to save us, to save his family. To save all of Ninjago. He was going to do the job that I had been tasked to do. Zane was going to die for me.

I used... I used to tell myself it should have been me. I was the one that messed up, Zane. I was the one that let the Golden Master exist. I let him grow powerful, I let him win. I let him beat me and now, now he was going to beat us once and for all. But whenever I told myself that, I knew I couldn't do anything. I'd already had my chance, and lost it. I gave up the Golden Power. I gave. It. Up. I had never been forced to step out of the ring and let someone else fight for me, but now that I had, I was seeing what it was like when I wasn't strong enough.

The snowstorm began to completely cover the city, making even seeing him difficult. We were forced to go underground just to avoid being frozen. Every part of my body screamed to stay still, to do something to save him. I wanted to somehow form my dragon and rush up to save him, I wanted to somehow go and help him. But if I tried, I'd stop him. Even as my limbs felt as frozen as the air around me, I had to run. I had to let someone else take the fall. The last time I ever saw Zane was right before we had to close the manhole, just before the ice fully encased him.

There was an explosion. Everything shook. And then… then there was nothing. It felt like time had just suddenly frozen. I was huddling underground, surrounded by my friends, and we couldn't hear anything anymore. When we moved back up to the surface, everything was covered in snow. There was nothing. Borg Tower was half encased in ice. There was no Golden Master, there was no Zane. All we found was a piece of Zane's face, the shell that broke off the first time that they fought the Great Devourer. Zane, was gone….

...

It's hard to describe, what it's like when it sets in that someone you care for or love has died. When it sinks in, it's like your brain can't fully process it. None of us think of death as it being something that's right on top of us. We like to think about it down the road, something that we're either trying to avoid or pushing down the line. But when it hits you, when it sinks in that death has finally come for you or someone close to you, it's like all of the air in your body is sucked right out of you. You go cold, you freeze, you can't move. The others were crying and holding each other… I wasn't able to move a muscle. I could barely even process what was happening.

I know my dad tried to say something to me. He tried to comfort me, to tell me what I needed to hear. Everything anyone said to me felt like I was underwater. I couldn't make them out, I couldn't process what was going on. I couldn't even think about anything but Zane. The only thing I could think about was the image of Zane, clinging onto the Golden Master. Clinging onto him and giving literally everything he had for us. How he stood where I should have been.

Everything that happened to him, that happened to the city, it was my fault. I'd killed Zane. If I'd been stronger, if I'd resisted the Digilord when he was draining my power, if I had trained harder with my powers, maybe he wouldn't have done that. Maybe instead, this wouldn't have happened. If I had just done the job right the first time and followed up with it, I wouldn't feel this way.

It doesn't matter to me that he came back. It doesn't matter that he actually managed to find his way back to us. The fact that he doesn't look like the Zane that I met in the beginning, the fact he's still the same person even after everything that he went through, it doesn't erase the fact that he died. Everyone now, they've all gotten used to it. Most kids now don't even know the fact that Zane wasn't always like this, that he wasn't a Nindroid when I first met him…

I couldn't even bring myself to say anything at his funeral. All of the others wrote a speech, gave it in front of a statue that Borg erected just for him. The Titanium Ninja was what Borg decided to call it. I couldn't find the words. I felt so ashamed while I was there, that I couldn't bring myself to speak. I tried to get myself to say something, to stand up and shout how much I missed him, how it should have been me that did it, how he died for my mistakes… to tell him. To tell him just how sorry I was. How sorry, how utterly, deeply, just… just how sorry I was. To apologize for how he died for me, he died for what I did. I couldn't… I couldn't even think of anything else other than how horrible I felt. And the fact it was at his funeral, the fact I was thinking of me while we were trying to honor him, only made me feel even more cowardly.

I didn't even say a word when the others decided to split up. Kai told me that he couldn't face being a ninja anymore when he'd failed Zane. As soon as Kai said that he wasn't going to be around anymore, Jay and Cole were quick to say they were gone too. While they were all saying their goodbyes after the funeral, I couldn't… I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even say goodbye to them. I was still so angry at myself, it didn't even register to me what they were doing until it was over. It wasn't until I told my dad afterwards, that they were gone, that it sank in.

Kai went off to join an underground wrestling ring started by some Serpentine that weren't content with being underground anymore called the Slithering Pit. Jay was approached by several people that wanted to use his status as a ninja to put him on the air, and soon he had his own TV show. Cole wanted to just get as far away from the city as possible, so he went off and became a lumberjack. I guess this meant Wu had to close the school since he no longer had teachers, but I never even heard about it again.

Since I wasn't the Golden Ninja anymore, there was no point in doing any sort of tours. I wouldn't accept any rewards, anything for saving the city. Because I hadn't saved the city, Zane had beaten the Golden Master. I didn't do anything. I just sat by, while Zane… while he saved us. I turned down everything the city offered me. I kinda of wish they did more of that today.

Borg offered a room in the newly rebuilt Borg Towers. My dad offered me the chance to move in with him, so I decided to do that instead. I couldn't stomach being in the city. I spent nearly two weeks once I was at the monastery just inside my room, barely thinking. The others were off doing things, and I was laying there, unable to bring myself to save anyone anymore. I had all but just given up. Zane was gone, so what was the point of doing anything anymore? What was the point of trying, when I wouldn't be strong enough? I'd never be the Golden Ninja again.

Each day, my mother and father would come in and ask me to go and train with them. I thought my dad would try to push me to go and get better, but he said that I needed time to heal. He said that I had to heal by finding the wound inside me and stitching it together myself. If I didn't, I'd never be able to move past it. I had to find a way to get over this myself. And at first, I wasn't even trying to. I was just laying there, in my own pity, in my own hatred for myself.

Everyday, my anger towards myself grew. Each day I'd get more angry. My guilt felt like it was boiling over, and was going to consume me. _All of it was my fault, all of it was my fault_, that's all I could think about. Soon I was angry enough that I destroyed the bed I was using. I didn't know my own strength. Dad told me that the anger was natural, but I had a choice. I had to either control it and use it to rebuild myself, or burn in it. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't listening to him. Soon the room was a mess and I was barely holding it together.

At the end of those two weeks, I was a wreck. I wasn't looking like myself, or the Green Ninja. If anyone saw me like, they'd never think of me as a hero. When I finally was at the breaking point, when I'd finally gotten it into my head that I'd lost, I'd hit that lowest point. I had to make a choice as to who I was going to be, make a decision as to what person I was going to be. I didn't feel that at the time, but I felt that I had to do something. Because when I finally saw a mirror, saw what I looked like, I couldn't take it anymore. I can't even say what I did, because I only saw one glance before I looked away.

I wish I could say that I made some big grand sweeping change, made some big announcement or did something powerful to get back on my feet. The thing is… it doesn't really work like that. All I did when I saw myself like that, was make one promise to myself. One thing that I would hold with me, that I'd never forget, that I'd never let get away from me again.

I'd never be too weak to protect my friends ever again.

It took another week before I was fully back in shape and back to training, but when I did, I took that promise to heart. My dad gave me a staff and had me carve my promise into the wood. By physically putting it into something like that, I couldn't forget it. I'd never forget the promise I made to myself as long as I had it. And for the next month, all I did was train with that staff. I threw myself into my teachings with my father. I pushed myself to grow as strong as I could. I told him not to go easy on me, and he didn't. The training that I'd been undergoing while on the run was back on. I was back to being the Green Ninja.

And for those months, I trained. I strengthened up the parts of myself that made me feel weak, and I honed the parts that I already had. Soon, my dad was coming at me full force in training. Later, I was able to actually dodge his attacks. I trained my Spinjitzu until my feet were ready to burn off, I trained my swordsmanship until my arms refused to move, and I pushed my brain to memorize new tactics, new ideas, whatever it took. I made a choice to become the Green Ninja that day. I was going to be the hero that Ninjago needed.

At the end of those months, I was stronger than I had ever been before. I was exhausted, I'd pushed harder than I ever had before, but I was better for it. I was now the Green Ninja of legend that everyone wanted me to be. Borg called me in one day to test the layout of where he had hidden the retrieved Golden Armor that the Golden Master had worn, and so I did. And when I did, I realized how much I'd improved. The Nindroids that had once been so powerful to me, were now like the training equipment I trained on. I came just shy of taking it in the simulation, and the fact I made it so far told me what I needed to know. I had gotten stronger.

Yet for all of my strength that I had, it would soon be put to the test all over again when Ninjago fell under attack. This time, it wasn't some ancient evil, some warrior race, or a reincarnated devil. It was just one man, his followers, and a noodle empire. This time… it was Chen.

* * *

"Zane…?" Lloyd asked as he looked down.

Zane had his arms wrapped tightly around his torso. Lloyd looked at him curiously, but slowly moved and hugged him back. Zane remained silent for a long while, simply hugging Lloyd. When he finally pulled back, he had a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Lloyd." Zane spoke warmly.

"What?" Lloyd blinked, "What for?"

"Hearing the struggle that you went through for me, hearing how much that I meant to you, and how I helped push you to become the man that you are today… it is something that has reassured me that all my decisions that I have made were worth it," Zane closed his eyes and sighed softly, "It has affirmed that I indeed am important to you."

"What?" Lloyd sat up, "You were always important to me, Zane. You're part of my team. I wouldn't lie about how much you meant to me."

"You misunderstand," Zane shook his head, "I know that I am your friend, but it is hearing how much you indeed cared for me that reminds me of the fact that I am your brother," Zane moved his hand over where his heart was, "When my father passed, and I was unable to remember him, I still felt the desire to have those close to me, to have a family again. When I met you, and we were brought together to help save Ninjago, I still had worries that you all still did not truly see me as your brother. And as I rebuilt myself, made myself look less human, I worried that was still the case. I have always managed to push those fears away, but hearing you say those words, it is as though you have removed a burden from me I have been neglecting."

Without hesitation, Lloyd moved and put his hand on Zane's shoulder, "You've always been a brother to us, Zane. It doesn't matter if you were in this body, a toaster, even just a program on our computers. Being family is more than that. Being a family is about protecting and caring for each other. You've shown us over and over again how much you care about us, and I hope that we've made sure to show you how much we do too. No matter what happens, no matter what you look like, you'll be a brother to each and every one of us."

Zane closed his eyes and slowly sighed, reaching out to put his own hand on Lloyd's shoulder. After a few moments, he opened his eyes with a newfound look of assurance in them.

"Thank you, Lloyd," Zane smiled, "I believe I have a suggestion that I would like you to take, then."

"A suggestion?" Lloyd asked, "What suggestion?"

"I believe that you should record these chapters with the others, and not just myself," Zane dipped his head, "I can give them a program that will transcribe your words as they listen. The more that I hear about your side of events, the more I feel I understand you. I believe that the others should be allowed to share in that experience as well."

"Are you sure?" Lloyd rubbed his hands together unknowingly, "I mean, I thought that you would be the best since, you wouldn't interject or judge me for what I was saying, you know?"

"I do," Zane stood up, "And that is why I believe that you should include the others. You have already had Kai sit in on one of our sessions. I believe as long as you tell them you wish to say your thoughts before their comments, they will understand."

"I don't know…" Lloyd admitted, "But… I'll trust you, Zane. If you think it'd be worth it, then I will."

"I will inform the group then," Zane stated, "Do you have an idea of who you would like to work with next in mind?"

"Hrm… not right now, but I'll think about it," Lloyd sighed, "We have to talk about Chen next, so I need to think about that."

"Indeed," Zane walked towards the door, "Oh, and, Lloyd?"

"Hmm?" Lloyd stood up from the chair and paused in curiosity.

"I would still like to train with you after your sessions," Zane smiled, "It is a good habit for us, and I believe that it is a good way to help you relieve tension after these meetings."

"Sure Zane, sure," Lloyd chuckled, "I'm getting pretty close to beating you, after all."

"We shall see about that," Zane chuckled back, "We shall see."


	16. An Unwelcome Invitation

I don’t think any villain I’ve ever faced has gotten more personal to me than Chen has.

I know that’s a little weird to say, since I’ve been talking over and over again about Harumi. The thing is, Harumi got to me by getting down to my emotions. She grabbed hold of them and then yanked them. I guess in that respect, she’s more personal to me as Lloyd. Chen, is more personal to me in terms of who I am as a being. I don’t know if that makes sense. Harumi, got to me, as a person. Chen got to me as to who I am, as the son of Garmadon, might be more accurate? It’s hard to explain. Okay, let’s just say that Chen is maybe the most personal one.

Master Chen is a bit difficult for me to talk about. It’s less so that I don’t like talking about him, but more that I have a hard time figuring out how I feel about him. On one hand, he’s someone that’s actually the most important villain that I’ve ever faced in terms of his impact on my life. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Chen’s meddling during the Serpentine Wars. Sure, the Overlord was always destined to fight me, but that was something that was decided a long time ago. We were built from the beginning to fight each other. Chen and I could have gone our entire lives never meeting, and I wouldn’t know how important he was to me.

That’s not to say I like him. I don’t know anybody who actually likes Master Chen. He’s rude, annoying, really loud, bombastic (“extra” is how Jay described him), and manipulative. Chen had no powers when we first met him. Of everyone that I’ve fought, Chen felt like he wanted to get to me personally. It’s one thing to fight a power mad set of Twins that just want to destroy the world. It’s harder to fight someone that knows who you are, and specifically wants to tear you apart.

While Chen failed to conquer Ninjago, he opened our eyes a lot to the world outside of Ninjago. Before we entered the tournament, we had all seen things as just, Ninjago City honestly. We know that we were important, but we never even stopped to consider the fact there might be more to Ninjago than just that. We never even thought to question if other people had powers like us. We’d been guided by destiny to fulfill whatever it was that needed to be done. The Serpentine, the Stone Army, and the Overlord almost felt like it was destiny moving us all along to the Final Battle. The Digilord was us having to clean up the mess I left behind. Chen was different. Chen couldn’t care less we were the ninja. He only cared for the fact we had something he wanted.

The Tournament of Elements, Chen’s plan to lure us all together to fight, was a wakeup call for us. We learned that we weren’t just five random kids that were picked to help save the world. I wasn’t the only one that was related to the First Spinjitzu Master. All of us who showed up were. All of us Elemental Masters, a lot of whom fought alongside me in the Resistance, were apart of families that tied directly back to the first guards that the First Spinjitzu Master gave elemental powers to. All of us were a part of a world much larger than just that. It wasn’t because of destiny we learned that either. It was because Chen decided he wanted to accelerate his plans. I think that’s what made Chen so different from everyone else we fought until then: Chen was manipulating us all from the start, and we never even realized it.

Now, before the Tournament of Elements began, everyone was still going their separate ways. Jay was working on his Most Ultimate Extreme Ninja Challenge Ever (I really wanna meet the person that came up with that dumb name), which he still asks us not to talk about. Cole was off being a lumberjack out in the woods, which I admit is actually pretty fitting for him. And Kai was off in the Slither Pit as some sort of underground wrestler. Of everything Kai could do… I still don't get why he chose that. I mean, I guess he was a ninja, but why he decided to become a wrestler in those sorts of matches and not like, some sort of athlete never made sense to me.

After my meeting with Borg to test out his security defenses for the Golden Armor we recovered after the battle, I decided it was time that we stop being split up like this. I had moved on with my feelings, and it was time the rest of the team did too. I couldn’t let them stay broken up like that. I know that it was hard to lose someone as important as Zane, but we couldn’t just abandon our duties to Ninjago! We were in a time of peace, but I knew that we’d be needed someday. My dad had told me during my training that if I thought that my duty as the Green Ninja was over after the Overlord, I was still being a young immature kid. I had to get the team back together. I justified it by saying that Ninjago could be in danger soon, but I needed us to be together because we needed to be a team, with, or without Zane.

I visited each of them during their jobs. Looking back on it, it’s kinda funny how much I grew up in such a short amount of time. I was giving them all the talks they all would likely have given me while I was still training to be the Green Ninja. I was the only telling them that they had to respect their power, duties, and put aside their feelings to see that the team couldn’t function if we were broken up like that. I must have gotten through to them enough for us to go meet up at Chen’s Noodle House.

One thing that really annoyed me at the time was that Cole and Jay were still arguing over Nya. I didn’t get that. Nya hadn’t ever gone out with Cole alone, she’d never told Jay she loved Cole over him. Cole had no reason to even be angry with Jay. From what I heard of the situation, it was just, weird. I ended up having to trick them just to get them in the same room together. It’s… honestly just ridiculous.

Now, when I sat down for that meeting, I had two goals: to get them all to come back to being ninja, and to discuss the possibility of adding a new member to the team. I recognized that we’d never be the same without Zane, and it wouldn’t feel right with just the four of us. Of course, they all got upset when I told them that. It wasn’t like I wanted to mention it myself, but I had to say it. I didn’t even get into my main points I’d prepared before they were all ready to leave. I don’t know if they would have actually stayed around if some of Chen’s cultists hadn’t come in to start messing up the place.

After we took out the goons, which was easy even after all of the time they’d spent away from training, we chased after them and found a shrine set up in the alley beside the noodle shop. One thing about Chen that you have to realize is he had, as my dad said, a ‘flair for the theatrics.’ Not only did he set up a shrine with Zane painted on it with the message that he was alive, but he also left us four fortune cookies with instructions inside of how to find him that even self-destructed after we finished them. We had to go to the docks at a specific time, where we’d find transport to the island where this tournament was taking place.

This is what I meant that from the beginning Chen was manipulating us. I don’t mean he was baiting us by saying that Zane was alive, that much is easy to see. Chen found something that we all wanted and dangled it in front of us. He got us to think about the importance of the tournament itself over him. Like… if he had instead said that he was just holding Zane hostage, then we could have stormed the island and gotten him back right away. Because of the fact he needed us to play along, he crafted the tournament to force us to play in step with him. If we had just ignored the tournament, we could have ended it from the beginning. We played right into his hands without even thinking about why we were.

It’s a bit hard to explain. I guess one way to describe it is that he got us to focus so much on Zane, we didn’t think about anything else. Even when we were on the island and found out about his plan, we always kept Zane in our heads. We never wanted to risk dropping out of the tournament in case we couldn’t get to Zane. We didn’t even question if Chen was lying to us about him! He put such a hard to ignore carrot in front of us we couldn’t do anything but play along while thinking we were cutting the string. Instead, we were being led right to a cliff. That’s, kinda the best way I can describe it.

When I was getting ready to leave, which was easy since we were told to bring nothing with us, my dad came to talk. Now, lying isn’t my strong suit, and it never has been. I can’t make up a good story to save my life. I guess it’s a good thing that the Green Ninja can’t lie to people, but this meant that my dad figured out that something was up. I thought I’d managed to fool him by saying I was going fishing with the team I’d just gotten back together… only to literally forget the fishing rods right in front of him. I don’t know how much more obvious I could have been with that. So, when we arrived at the docks, my dad came after us knowing something was up.

When we got to the docks, it was already filled with people. We’d never seen any of them before, but for some reason, I felt an instant connection to them. It’s sort of like being in the room with a friend you’ve forgotten, and you feel that you know the person beside you. Since we were all Elemental Masters, now I can say that I was feeling the fact we were all unique. I still don’t know why it is that my green power is counted as an element, since it seems more like it’s made to turn into the Golden Power, but… I’ve been told before my element is that of energy, so I usually go with that. Either way, Chen needed me there either way.

Clouse was on that ship. My father arrived, and Clouse immediately acted like he knew him. My dad even knew him back! I don’t know why, but that fact didn’t sit right with me. I’d always thought my father had lived in the Monastery, then was sent to the Underworld, and came back. Clouse implied that he had known my dad, and not in the same way that you would talk about seeing your former enemy. Again, it was a sort of wakeup call to the fact there was more to Ninjago than just… us.

This is one thing I also wanna point out as my dad as a Sensei: he refused to let us go alone. Rather than saying that he’d watch over us or give us advice, he decided to come along with us. I know that Wu has his whole ‘hands-off’ style, but my dad said that Chen was too dangerous for us to take on alone. I don’t know why, but seeing him leap onto the ship without thinking for me…. I think I might have actually felt relieved. We were going into a completely unknown situation because we had to find Zane. Having my dad there, it was a comfort to know that we would have someone there to help guide us. If he hadn’t been there, I don’t know what we would have done come the later rounds.

When we got on the ship, we saw people that were doing a lot of things. These turned out to be the Elemental Masters. Not all of them -Nya wasn’t using water yet, Morro was stuck in the Cursed Realm and the Time Twins weren’t together again yet- but most of them. My dad explained that each of them had somehow gotten to their True Potential without the help of a master. Given how much I had gone through to reach my True Potential, and what the ninja overcame to get to theirs, that was enough to say they were all worthy opponents.

It’s hard to describe what I was feeling when I saw everyone on that ship. My dad said that we were led to believe we were special, but we never questioned where our powers came from. I think the reason we didn’t was because until then, we’d been at the center of destiny. The ninja were destined to protect me, I was destined to become the Green Ninja then to defeat the Overlord. The thing was, those destinies were over now. When we were on that ship, we were just as important as everyone else. All of us were connected because, well, we were all from the same source. In a way, we were all connected to the First Spinjitzu Master. I wasn’t… the only special one anymore.

Now, I’m not saying that I felt really threatened or upset by that fact. I think, it was more like I was just surprised that I hadn’t ever had that happen before. Before that point, everyone was already fighting for _me_. I was the one that had to handle everything, the one that had to be at the center of destiny and all of that. But now, on that ship, I realized that without destiny I was on the same level as the other masters. It was…. I think the good word to use is humbling? I wasn’t upset, I was just confused. From the beginning I’d thought there were only the five of us elemental users. We found out all at once that we weren’t special like that. I guess… it’s like, if you were in a special gifted class with all these fancy projects, but then you were put into a bigger class of gifted kids, and you realized your class was on par with them?

Not that I would know, since I dropped out of school when I was a kid. I guess I should mention that my dad had taken over my education. He used a combination of old books and some of the new programs Borg had put out to help me catch up. I can at least now say I have a high school education. I haven’t mentioned it up until this point and, well, this seems like the best place to say it I guess.

Anyways. Of course, the first thing Kai did when we got on was start hitting on some girl. That girl was Skylar, Chen’s daughter. She came along and pretended to be a part of us to help guide us into participating in the tournament. I have to admit, I never saw it coming that she could be allied with him. She never even told us her name until the tournament had already started. She was mysterious, but it wasn’t like we knew anyone else. I’m pretty sure most of the others didn’t know each other when it all began.

Kai got involved with Karlof after he tried to hit on Skylar, which apparently Kai decided to white knight for her (I think I’m using that term right) and tell Karlof to back off even after Skylar said she could handle herself. We tried to step in and help, but my dad said Kai could finish what he started. My dad wanted us to learn our own lessons, I guess.

The fight more or less came to a draw after Clouse got involved. Seeing Karlof actually manage to stand up to Kai, but also put Kai on the defensive, was a bit wakeup call that we couldn’t just go into this tournament thinking it’d be easy. Just realizing that everyone there could actually fight us on equal ground was impressive. We’d trained for years and helped save Ninjago, yet we were now in the middle of a ship filled with people that could actually stand up to us. I’m just glad that we’re allies now instead of enemies.

Soon, we caught a glance at Chen’s island. We’d been sailing all night, and I noticed that we’d actually been taking strange directions and routes, as if to deliberately confuse us as to where we were going. I like to think after all my time spent out with my dad during the Golden Master incident, I gained a decent sense of direction, but even then I couldn’t figure out where we were. Chen’s island actually looked incredibly civilized for what we learned was meant to be an island prison. He’d not only built himself an entire palace, but multiple facilities, docks, vehicles, a sizeable cult, a ton of things. The only thing that was keeping him there was knowing that if he left, he’d get sent back by my father and uncle.

Chen didn’t spare us a big grand entrance either. We got off the ferry and were escorted down a massive path with cultists banging away at drums and lighting all sorts of fiery displays for us. It was a pretty impressive thing, for what we thought was going to be an underground ring like what I’d gotten Kai out of. It turned out that Chen wasn’t planning on doing anything by halves, or quarters… I still wonder where he got all the supplies for this.

The team and I were back together, and soon, we were entering Chen’s main room. As he came to greet us, none of us knew what to expect. I’d gotten the team back together, but we were far from whole. We all had one goal driving us forward: find where Chen was keeping Zane, and stay in the tournament long enough to do that. As we sat down with all the other contestants, none of us knew what to expect.

We’d accepted Chen’s unwelcome invitation, and now, we were about to meet Chen himself.

* * *

“So… you’ve been doing this with Zane for awhile?” Cole asked, tapping the recording device on the table in front of him.

“Heh… yeah,” Lloyd rubbed his neck, “I, just figured that I should get all my thoughts out on all of this. Zane suggested I should try to mix up who I’m doing all these with, and, well… I figured I should give it a shot.”

“You’re going to put this all into a book, right?” Cole asked, “A book you’re planning to sell?”

“Yeah, that’s the goal!” Lloyd smiled, “I wanted to write an autobiography but when I sat down to do it I just found I couldn’t really get my thoughts out the way I wanted to. I ended up sitting down and talking to Zane about it, and when I found that I could talk a lot more than I could write, we started doing this.”

“Huh, I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Cole shrugged, “Any reason you asked me first?”

“Yeah, actually,” Lloyd paused, “There’s, a lot that I want to get out. And, aside from Zane, I really wanted to have someone that wouldn’t stop me or try to correct me while I’m talking. And, well, you’re really good at listening to people, Cole, and I thought maybe, you wouldn’t judge me for all of this?”

“It’s not my thing to judge,” Cole crossed his arms, “Everyone’s got their own things to say. I’m not really in a place to go and tell them they’re right or wrong. Plus, what others see and I see, probably don’t always line up.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Lloyd sighed, “I’m glad you get it. I’m planning on getting all the chapters out based on Chen’s Island with you. After that, I figured I’d try to vary up who I do each of our villains with, you know?”

“Sure, just let me know when you wanna record and we can set some stuff up,” Cole replied.

“Awesome,” Lloyd stood up, “You wanna go get something to eat? I was talking for a little while there.”

“I’m always happy to eat!” Cole bounced up, “We still got any of that cake?”

“We should, unless Jay got to it first,” Lloyd smiled, then his smile dropped, “Oh…. yeah, speaking of Jay, I’m gonna, be talking about that a bit here. Uh… can you promise me that, whatever I say you won’t like, get mad at me?”

“Trust me, me and Jay both don’t like thinking about it,” Cole frowned, “I don’t think you could embarrass me anymore than we already did ourselves.”

“Got it,” Lloyd turned, “Well then… let’s go get something to eat! Same time tomorrow?”

“Works for me,” Cole stretched, “I’m down."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Autobiography continues into Season 4! For those of you wondering why I picked Cole for this particular season, I have a list of who will be doing each season for now. When it came to assigning people, I was left with one season for Jay and one for Cole. Since I hadn’t gotten much of a chance to write for Cole, I decided to put him here and put Jay later down the line.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! As always I appreciate any and all feedback. Let me know what you think!


	17. The First Round

One thing you have to know about Master Chen is that, even if he was holding an underground fighting tournament meant to entrap all of us, he knew how to give people something to talk about. I said it before, but I really want to reiterate here: I don't know how someone that was meant to be exiled onto an island was able to get that much money and resources to build what amounted to a completely themed palace filled with facilities to support some rather complicated and strange arenas.

Once we were on the island, yy father began to fill us in a bit more on Chen. Apparently, Chen had decided to 'side' with the Serpentine during the Serpentine Wars, marking him as a traitor to Ninjago. In exchange for a surrender from him and an agreement not to take action against him, Chen and his followers were exiled off to this island. My father spoke of him building up a 'criminal empire' which to me seemed to imply they somehow knew Chen was making all of this. The best guess I have is that part of Chen's surrender would have been invalid if my dad or Wu attempted to intervene, so they were willing to let things slide. I guess if _Chen_ didn't leave the island, then it was okay for him to send his followers out for things?

Along with that, my dad revealed the reason why he'd taken the title of Lord Garmadon: it'd been given to him by Master Chen. During the time before I was born, my father had decided to seek out a different way of guidance. Since the venom was slowly corrupting him, he wanted to find a different way of fighting. Without my grandfather, my father and Wu were more or less secluded for however many years. He sought out Chen and was trained in his more aggressive style of fighting I saw him use before he was purified alongside Clouse. Both him being a Lord ad Clouse being hostile towards him was due to my father cheating during a training match when Chen declared the winner would be named Lord of Chen's estate. I always thought the 'Lord' bit was just him exaggerating, but it turned out he actually held claim to Chen's land. My dad implied that Chen had been a big motivation behind what he became when he finally and fully gave into the evil inside of him. I wish I knew before we got there just how important that really was.

Either way, Chen had an entire entrance ceremony laid out right for us. Now, most people would tell you that first impressions are everything. Most people would do their best to introduce themselves as a nice person, maybe with a handshake or by saying hi. Not Chen. Chen began by playing some sort of old-time cheesy music around the room where we were all sat, making us rise up for him, and lowering himself down from the ceiling on his personal chair. Just looking at him was… interesting. He was clearly the same age as my dad, but he was wearing far more elegant and darker robes, and I couldn't tell if he had hair and had woven it into the massive snake-skull headdress he wore at all times, or if he was bald. His voice was a lot higher than he initially looked to be, and his laugh sounded like he was sucking in a balloon.

His face, however, was something else. I don't know what it was about him that made me feel so off. It wasn't like he had some sort of messed up face or anything. His eyes had red paint around them, making them almost look like a snake, and he had a lot of facial hair. Something about looking at him altogether, however, told me that I couldn't trust him. No matter what he said, or what he tried to get me to do, I knew that I couldn't let my guard down around him for even a single minute.

Chen didn't waste time showing himself off. He was able to identify everyone in the room, and Garmadon in particular right off the bat. I thought that he would have made more of a big deal about it, having just heard that he'd apparently trained my father, but he mentioned it more like he was just ad libbing from a script…. Which, now that I think about it, he probably was. The way he talked to us made it feel impossible to tell how much of what he was saying was him playing some sort of role, given his big theatrical introduction, and what was actually him. For the record, it was all naturally him. Chen was a natural actor.

He explained to us what, on the surface, our tournament would look like. He showed us a jadeblade, the key to moving on in the tournament. Fights would revolve around the jadeblades, and by obtaining one we would win and stay in the tournament. Apparently, those things were carved out of the bones of Anacondrai and used by the generals as a sign of their power. Given the fact that he had so many of them, I'm not quite sure where he managed to get more Anacondrai in order to build them. He must have raided their tomb after I'd already opened it?

Of course, we were all more worried about what would happen if we lost, which my dad thankfully asked. After blowing my dad off and making his question out to be a joke -something that Chen was surprisingly good at- he only implied that we shouldn't lose. Since we were now on an island with only one way to get back -the boat- and how strange and eccentric Chen seemed to me… we weren't exactly impressed or swayed by his words. Something was up, and we knew it from day one.

That, however, was when he decided to split all of us up. Not only did he have an entire cult, but he had an entire squad of servants that my dad called Kabuki. By that point I was already so weirded out that I wasn't even thinking about the fact that he had so much influence to literally have all of these personal servants. It was a little funny in hindsight of my dad telling us to stay together as we were literally dragged apart to our own separate rooms. Yes, Chen had built and prepared separate rooms for all of us.

Once we were inside, I saw something on the bed. There was a note on top of a folded set of new robes that read 'For My Esteemed Guests' that was signed with a large C. Chen had made us all completely new robes, specifically for the Tournament of Elements. Now, I haven't talked much about our outfits so far, since we go through new ones so often. It feels like everytime there's a new threat, Wu has either made us new robes or we find new ones waiting for us. I don't know why, but I don't really like to question it that much.

However, something about Chen making us robes stood out. I can kinda see two reasons he did. The first one was actually pretty obvious: by the four of us all wearing the same style of robes, we stood out as a group among all of the other smaller competitors. Chen made sure that by us wearing them, the others would feel threatened by us. I think that was the intended effect, since the biggest issue we faced with the tournament was everyone else thinking we were ganging up on them all the time.

But… there was something more to it. I might be looking into this too much now, but all of the others were wearing different robes when we got to the island. None of us looked like we were together. Sure, we were ninja, but we were still divided. I was still pulling the team together. But… Chen made us robes that made us look whole again. We came back together under the goal of finding Zane. We'd of course lost a lot of our teamwork since we'd been out of commission for so long (and they were rusty since I was the only one that was still in training at the time), but that had been because none of them wanted to continue pushing on as a team in the first place. We were a team again, and working to reform it by finding Zane. So, for the first time, we were not only a team again in our goals, but in our look too.

But either way, I'd only gotten a little bit of time to admire my awesome room before we heard that weird song come from the phonograph again. Apparently, Chen didn't want to give us any time to actually settle in. I guess if he wanted to put us all on edge, he waited for the right time to do just that. My dad was actually kicked out of the building by Clouse, so we didn't get any good warning it was going to happen. Chen came over an intercom and gave us our instructions: he'd hidden jadeblades all over the building, and we had to find one and return it to his throne. He'd hidden one less blade than people. I was pretty impressed he coordinated all of that so quickly.

It was during this first round that I got my first taste of what the other elements could do. I found a blade inside of a nearby statue. I was so focused on getting it I let Ash trip me. When I got up and attacked him, he turned into smoke. He snuck off towards the blade while I ended up grappling with several of the others. I could tell they weren't exactly trained to fight the way I was, but I didn't want to turn my green power on them. I knew how much it could hurt, and it wasn't a good idea to be throwing that around.

While Griffin Turner, master of speed, went to steal a blade from Cole, I managed to throw most of them off and was about to go and claim by blade when something grabbed me. I turned to see that the carpet itself had reached up to attack me. It was like the snake designs had come to life and were strangling my leg. Neuro made a run for me during it. My dad explained that Clouse was using dark magic after the fight. My dad tackled him and stopped him long enough to let me claim the blade and race my way down to the throne. Once I locked the blade into the slot, I saw that a faceplate of me rotated on a big board nearby.

I didn't see much of what happened with the others. Cole apparently first had a blade stolen by Griffin, then was cheated out of one by Paleman, and finally ended up finding one under the table. He said he had just eaten a big meal and wasn't feeling good. Jay apparently fought Bolobo naked in his own room, and the less I say about that the better. The three of us managed to get out blades, and the conflict came down to Kai and Karlof.

None of us saw the fight, but Karlof was the one that brought the blade back. As he was gloating that he had won, however, Kai had found some tools and figured out that Karlof had his big metal gauntlets screwed together over his hands. Why, I don't know. But before Karlof could physically put the blade into the throne, Kai unscrewed his gauntlet holding the blade and put it in himself. This declared Kai as the winner.

I remember seeing Chen giving Kai the biggest smile out of all the ones he'd given us. He was honestly so entertained by the sudden change of events, I think it overpowered his desire to knock one of us out of the tournament so early. Chen made very clear what his motto was in this tournament: "Only one can remain." Chen then followed this up by dropping Karlof down a trapdoor in the blink of an eye. Right then, we knew if we lost, something bad was going to happen to us.

None of us felt good after that. Kai especially looked like he'd been punched in the gut. We'd all thought until then that we'd just be sent off the island and have to find our way back… apparently, there was more to it. Chen had set up a 24/7 buffet line for us of all food from his restaurant which I admit was a sweet deal. Chen allowed my dad to stay on the island with the promise that he wouldn't interfere with the tournament anymore, and in turn he promised Chen would keep his dark magic out of it. None of us really trusted that, but my dad said that he'd rather play by Chen's rules and stay to watch over us than let us brave this without him.

Now, while we were eating, Paleman came over and asked if we could join us. Jay told him off while we were stressing over this tournament, making him go away. I don't know why, but it was sort of the first sign to me that not everyone there was really going to be out to get us. We learned later that most of them were just like us really: young adults that had been given powers and forced to learn how to understand them. We were a bit younger than many of them, but they all weren't bad people. The tournament, however, was pitting us against each other.

In order to figure out what happened to Karlof, that night we decided to try to find a way to get inside Chen's operations. One thing you need to remember about Chen, is that he had an… unhealthy obsession with trapdoors. Literally anywhere you stood on the island could be a trapdoor. We all snuck our way into Cole's room, which took a lot of effort. Chen didn't want us to go snooping around. Cole found out while we were talking that his bed was rigged to actually act like a trapdoor by pushing a pillow and dropping him into the catacombs inside the island. I guess Chen decided he could silently get rid of us if he didn't like us. We all made sure to destroy that mechanism in our beds later just in case.

Now, it turned out that Chen not only had massive elaborate buildings with rooms that could configure to Jay's electricity or let Kai light fires wherever without burning up, but he had an entire system of tunnels that ran all over the island. It actually explained how he was able to clean the buildings without us ever seeing a cleaning crew. Come to think of it, anything weird that happened on the island was probably linked somehow to those tunnels. They weren't small tunnels, either: they were big enough for a snake that could swallow all four of us whole to go through.

We got a bit of an idea of Skylar's power when, while sneaking by her room, the others saw her using fire. For a little while there, Kai worried that he may have been related to her, which would have made his attraction to her… odd. I'd already mentioned that he'd white-knighted for her pretty hard, and after that, he'd been pretty flirty with her. In a way it was kinda nice that he had that happen, since it meant for a while we didn't have to see anymore of his poor attempts at romance. The fact that Skylar actually seemed to like them later on… well, there's someone for everyone, I guess.

Anyways. We made our way through the tunnels and soon found that all of the cultists we'd seen (until now we thought they were just Chen's allies) were going to a specific room. We stole some of their outfits and then used, of all things, chocolate to help paint on the big Anacondrai tattoos. Never let anyone tell you disguising yourself requires makeup, just a lot of ingenuity. We formed into the back of a massive group of the cultists bowing to a massive statue of an Anacondrai head, and Chen appeared.

The entire atmosphere of the place just felt… wrong. We were in this massive underground chamber that reminded me of the Serpentine headquarters Pythor had constructed, with all of us painted in snake tattoos chanting at Chen in some weird language while Chen stood over us. I'd never been apart of a cult before, but that was when we figured out what it was really quickly. The entire place was lit by torches and really dark at the same time. To start the ceremony, Chen had Karlof brought before him.

That was when we first saw Chen's big staff. Just looking at it made me feel sick inside. I didn't know why at the time, but now I know that it was there to help suck out elemental powers. There was a crystal inside that was apparently able to do that. I've seen the Time Blades now, so it wasn't as terrifying the second time. However, when you watched Karlof being held down as Chen held a staff to his head and declared that only one could remain while he sucked something straight out of Karlof's body as he screamed and fought back… it was honestly horrifying.

We learned what we needed to after that. Chen was stealing elemental powers. Sadly, our disguises began to fall apart, so we were forced to flee before we learned more. I wanted to get Karlof, but Chen had already sent him off to the 'factory.' Now, it turned out he was just making him labor away in his noodle factory, but it sounded a lot more sinister at the time. We were running away as fast as we could, though, so I guess it didn't matter.

That was when we saw it. I don't know where Clouse got such a big snake: my guess is that he used his dark magic on it. I don't really understand dark magic, or magic for that matter. I know that it's drawing energy from other realms to help fuel spells, but I'm not sure how you learn it without a spellbook or something else. Either way, that snake used its body to start to trap us inside the tunnels, so we ran our way back to the room.

Just before we were able to get back, the snake managed to bite Jay and tear a small hole in his pants. We thought at the time that Jay had just torn it during one of his matches. This, however, meant that Clouse was given confirmation that we had gone snooping around. Chen had it out for us after that point, which I'm not sure he needed that much of a reason for. He just needed us to be in his tournament. If we broke the rules, he could use that to justify capturing us.

We agreed at that point not to go looking down there again. After that close call, we realized it was far too dangerous to try. Chen was stealing our powers. I had already had my power taken away from me once before, so I don't think I was as terrified as the others were. After you'd already had something ripped out of you once, having it happen again only made you as nervous as you would be going into any dangerous situation. I could tell they were seriously shaken up though, and Kai told us we shouldn't do that again. We all agreed. We were going to play by Chen's rules and stay in the tournament long enough to figure out a way to get to Zane.

Our first round had finished with us and Chen tied. It wouldn't stay that way for long.

* * *

"Mind if I say something?" Cole spoke up as Lloyd finished.

"Huh?" Lloyd blinked in confusion, caught off guard by the question after his usual way of talking down with Zane, "Uh… sure? I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything."

"Nah, it was about what you were saying with all of us not being a team and all that," Cole explained, "I uh, don't think any of us ever really apologized for just, leaving you alone like that."

"You don't have to apologize," Lloyd countered, "You guys were hurting over Zane. We all were. I don't blame us for breaking apart. What matters is we got back together."

"That still doesn't mean I didn't just up and leave you guys and go off into the woods to cut trees to try to get away from being a ninja," Cole pointed out, "We're a family and a team, I shouldn't have done that. I should … I should have been there with you. I don't even know why I did all that… I don't even think I looked good as a lumberjack!"

"Uh… I don't think it mattered how you looked? Jay was the one that needed to worry about that," Lloyd pointed out with a coy smile.

"It wasn't cool of me," Cole put his hands in his lap, "And I didn't exactly make it easy either. All I did when I got there was argue with Jay and overeat! I know we were all worried about Zane and everything but, it still wasn't right of me to not try to make an effort."

"You made up for it," Lloyd told him, "It doesn't matter how long it took us to get there. We got there. You made a big sacrifice too, which, I was planning on getting to next time. After that you'll get caught up with everything else that happened while you were down there in the factory."

"I'll let you know more about that before you do the next one, case you wanna mention it," Cole smirked, "I made sure I was fighting Chen too! I ate as much merchandise as I could get my hands on while I was down there. They don't even know how much money they lost to me!"

"I'm sure they don't," Lloyd smiled awkwardly, "Well, I would like to know. I've gotten the gist of it but it'll help provide some context. I've only ever really talked about things that involved me. I mean, it's my autobiography, after all."

"No sweat," Cole stretched, "You wanna go work out?"

"I was planning on doing some training after this," Lloyd shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

"Awesome. I'm gonna help you work up to bigger weights," Cole flexed his muscles, "Zane said you normally need time to cool off after these things, and what better way is there other than lifting?"

"Hitting things until they break?" Lloyd offered with a chuckle.

"Uh… yeah, but weights work too!" Cole shook his head, "I just figured I could help you out, you know? Kai isn't really into it and Jay spends all his time on cardio. And well, Zane can lift anything he wants without effort-"

"I'll go with you, Cole," Lloyd stood up, "Come on, let's get going. Those weights aren't gonna lift themselves."

"Sweet," Cole followed after him, "Trust me, you won't regret it!"


	18. The Tournament of Deception

While the Tournament of Elements was the only tournament that I ever fought in, I don't think I'd enjoy having to fight in another one again. After the craziness that was fighting in those rounds, I'm not sure I could handle being tossed in again. I didn't even fight in many of the rounds, but Chen made sure that what we did see was enough.

Chen had a very clear bracket established from the beginning of the tournament, meaning that we knew what order everyone fought in. The first few rounds were simple elimination by getting the jadeblade, just like the first round. The first few matchups were ones that I only was able to watch, but it was interesting to see what exactly he had in store. Now, I'll be assuming that many of you know of all of the elemental masters at this point. I'm planning on putting a big character reference in the back of this book. There are a lot of people that were involved in this tournament. At the start, there were 16 of us in the tournament including my team. Keep in mind these names right now: Neuro, Bolobo, Gravis, Griffin Turner, Ash, and Paleman. They're the ones that were involved in the first part of the tournament.

The original bracket that Chen had created had Karlof facing off against Tox. Since he was eliminated, Chen moved some matches around, meaning that Jay thought he had the day off. We were all still rattled about what we'd discovered. I told my dad -who I should mention snuck into my room we shared so he wasn't sleeping out in the jungle- about this, and he agreed that it was best not to say anything just yet. He said that Chen would be looking for any chance to eliminate us if we left any sort of evidence that we were the intruders. Since we were ninja, we were going to be the top suspects and targets. We needed to keep our heads down and play along unless we wanted to turn the entire island against us. Chen had plans for us, and being ready for them was what was important.

The first day of the tournament was a very action-packed one. Chen wanted the first few rounds to be eventful, and assigned everyone an arena. Chen told us to go and eat lunch, and while we did, he was getting everything ready. During lunch, Cole and Jay reminded me very loudly that the two of them were still fighting. I don't know what I expected, but I'd been secretly praying it wouldn't happen. I mean, I knew Jay had talked about Cole when I went to get them, and vice versa, but the two were just like little kids! They literally started arguing over who had dropped their grudge first. I guess, not having a childhood like them meant I didn't get why they were fighting like that. Sometimes, I feel a little glad I skipped right to a young adult.

While the two were fighting, Chen was already getting ready to have his fun with us. He called together the first three matches, and told us to all assemble for the first one. I once more have to ask just how much money Chen managed to amass, since he not only built personal arenas to each and every fight that took place, but they weren't just simple matches either. He had built that entire island like he was some sort of millionaire mansion. How much money does a noodle shop make?

The first round was between Griffin Turner and Gravis; Speed versus Gravity. The entire place was decked out to look like they were fighting over a cherry blossom tree that was perched on the edge of a cliff. When you sat down, it was like the sun was actually shining on you, and you actually would see some cherry blossoms flying off into the crowd as the fight progressed. Chen always had us sit in seats on one side of the arena, while he and Clouse were on a raised platform with Chen's throne always there. He loved to lord over the matches, and he said it was to 'be able to see all the action!' or something like that.

Watching the two of them left a lot to think about. They were incredibly fast and it was like you trailed a second behind what Griffin was doing. The jadeblade they were fighting over was on the top of the tree, and the two were getting there as fast as they could. By the time you even saw where Griffin was, he was already moving somewhere else. Gravis was being pretty tame all things considered, and at first I thought the match was just going to be completely one-sided. I guess Griffin realized that he couldn't see the blade once he was in the three, so he had to race from branch to branch to try to find it. This gave Gravis the advantage.

Griffin struck like a bullet. He would zoom in, kick or punch Gravis, then he'd be gone. He used the entire tree like it was the perfect camouflage. Eventually, he angered Gravis to the point that he showed off he could use his gravity control over other things. He took all of the blossoms that were floating in the air and turned them all against Griffin, smacking him with them. You could see from how fast they were flying they were hitting like a punch to the gut. Griffin tried to zoom off, but he was thrown off his game. When Gravis turned his attention away to levitate the blade to himself, Griffin shot through the air in those few seconds and grabbed it. Chen apparently only cared who physically held the blade, and not who touched it with their element first. We got our first taste of Chen's love for trapdoors when he not only opened one underneath a floating Gravis, but then dropped a sandbag on him so he'd fall into it. I don't even know how he managed to line that up.

The next match was… a lot more underwhelming. Neuro and Bolobo were fighting -Mind versus Nature- and the first minute of the fight was literally just them staring at each other. They were inside a massive rocky, moonlight arena, which was like the top of a big, barren rocky plateau. I actually kinda got impatient and asked if this would be the whole fight. Neuro, however, was reading all of Bolobo's mind and then, right as Bolobo struck, he leapt up on top of the plants that erupted from the ground. It was pretty clever, all things considered. Neuro nearly managed to claim the blade by doing it, but Bolobo dragged him back down and the two fought.

Bolobo managed to ensnare Neuro in vines. I actually thought the entire match was set there, since it gave Bolobo the chance to use his plants to bring him the blade. Neuro was struggling to get out, and I even smugly told my dad that 'nature usually wins' or something like that. I… can't say that I was really good at commentary. Either way, Neuro blasted Bolobo with mental energy, which distracted him enough to let Neuro race up the vines again and claim the blade. Neuro never even landed a single punch on Bolobo.

The match that I was far more interested in, though, was the match of Kai versus Ash -Fire versus Smoke. Chen had constructed the arena to be a perfect massive wooden bridge over pillars of rock overtop of a lake of actual lava. The jadeblade was in the center of the bridge. Kai can withstand being on fire, but he can't actually go into lava. Kai went straightforward into attacking, but Ash did just what he did with me and turned into smoke whenever Kai would go in to attack him. The first few attacks knocked the blade onto the rocks in the lava. Kai didn't seem to get how to attack Ash; strategizing wasn't always Kai's biggest strong suit. It didn't help that the bridge was continually breaking and flipping, and Ash knew just how to fight to his advantage.

Kai used Spinjitzu to get back from being thrown off the bridge -I actually think that counts as a time we remembered to use it- and Ash responded by breaking him through most of the planks on the bridge. Kai finally began using his flames, and the entire bridge just.. .snapped. I mean, I don't know what Kai was expecting. I yelled out for him to use his power, but I had thought he'd be a little more… smart about it? He almost went right into the lava and was only saved by the pillars.

I will admit, the way that Kai got through that match was pretty clever. He noticed if he threw attacks out fast enough, he'd actually overwhelm Ash and manage to land hits on him. So he did that until he'd gotten Ash mad and got him to go for the blade. Kai threw fireballs right at him, forcing Ash to turn into smoke on instinct to not get hit. And the second he did, Kai dove through him and grabbed the blade. Whenever people say Kai isn't smart, I just say he isn't very adaptable.

At that point, we were safe. Kai got through, and without Jay having to fight that day, we all went back up to our rooms to rest. I wasn't sure yet how Chen was deciding the order of the matches, but it looked like if he needed me, I'd be there. After a few hours of rest and getting to indulge in the frankly awesome rooms Chen made all of us, my dad got us together to go and get food.

I want to make clear that it had only been a few hours since Kai's match. Cole and I were getting ready to fight. I saw that I was going to fight Chamille, but oddly enough I almost never saw her around the place. She was more or less just vanished after the ceremony. I was still thinking halfway through how we could work more within Chen's tournament, when we saw that Chen had done.

In order to punish us for sneaking into his ceremony, Chen had Clouse alter the bracket to force Cole and Jay to fight each other. Just that morning, they'd been feuding over their childish argument again, and now it was going to get physical. Clouse was right there to make clear he'd done that with us knowing it had to happen. The match was set for the next day.

My dad gave me a bit of advice concerning this: the two needed to find a way to work together, or they would be out of this tournament for good. The thing was, one of the two of them had to lose. I was terrified, since I knew that we had come to that island to become a team again. We'd barely gotten time to talk to each other again, and now Chen was going to rip us apart. He was going to take away everything we'd worked for until then!

I considered going right to Chen and demanding he change the bracket back. The thing was, my dad told me if I did that, he'd ask me to provide a reason why. If he was able to link me in any way to the ceremony, he'd have grounds for kicking us out by saying we were out of our rooms to the rest of the tournament. Given they already didn't like us, there wasn't anything we could do. We just had to sit back and let the two of them fight… or so we thought.

After seeing Neuro, I was pretty impressed at his ability to win without looking like a guy that had been taught how to fight. Kai was the one that suggested that we talk to Neuro. Neuro was pretty hard to approach, since he looked so imposing and mysterious. He didn't look like a very friendly guy. He wasn't at first, since the first thing he did was read Cole and Jay's minds and tell them that Cole thought Jay wouldn't last in the fight and Jay thought Cole was the least valuable ninja. I wish I could have been upset with Neuro, but I was more or less just annoyed they got into squabbling again.

The nice thing about a Master of Mind, however, is that they can read your mind to see if you're lying or not. All I had to do was tell Neuro to read my mind and see that Chen was playing us. It was like I'd suddenly unlocked something in a video game, since he immediately started asking us how he could help. He agreed to help us almost instantly.

I wanted to avoid Cole and Jay fighting, so we decided to try to send Neuro in to find something out. Chen had a restricted floor where he often had his Kabuki… dance for him, or something (I really don't know why he would have a bunch of girls dancing for him, Neuro was really dodgy answering what he saw). Clouse caught him in the act, and instead of trying to press further, he instead tricked Clouse into letting him get a small glimpse into his mind. Once he did, he came back and reported to us.

Unfortunately, because of the fact Chen had his eye on us, we weren't able to do anything else that night. Chen held the match first thing in the morning right after breakfast, so we all ate in nervous silence. Cole and Jay were giving each other death stares the entire time at breakfast. I had hoped that the two of them would actually decide to act like adults and try to think of a way out of this, but it was more like they actually wanted to fight! I wanted my dad's advice the night before, but Chen decided to make sure my dad couldn't get back into my room. I had to go through that entire time worrying about the fact I was about to be one less ninja than I wanted us to be. And it didn't feel good.

I've thought a long time as to why Jay was actually so offended that Cole might have been into Nya. It wasn't like Cole had ever made a pass at Nya, or had even done anything to make her uncomfortable. That was all Jay's fabrication. I thought a bunch on it that night. And, I think I figured out part of it. It was something Neuro said: Jay thought Cole was the least valuable ninja. I don't know why Jay would think that. Jay never seemed like the type of person to put people down. I thought a lot more about him, and then I remembered that his True Potential had been about a lot more than just Nya.

I think, Jay felt threatened. What I mean by that is Jay worried that he wasn't worthy of being on the team. I noticed the more I thought about it that Jay was always the one that doubted himself the most. I mean, Kai didn't even take time to worry about that, and Cole was always just, chill about it. Jay always felt like he was worried about it, or, I think he was. When he 'landed' Nya, as he calls it, it gave him confidence that he was worth being on the team. He put a lot of value in the fact someone like Nya loved him. And then, when he thought that she might be into Cole… he felt like he was going to lose that. Cole only started to fight back for the same reason anyone does when someone starts heckling them. Jay was always going after him, and Nya dragged him into the middle of it. I mean… I don't think he ever really liked Nya, and he only went on that date to just get Nya to tell Jay she loved him and get it over with. She only made it worse by not saying anything definitive.

Now, like I said before, I think the entire thing was stupid. Cole never even had interest in Nya until she pointed it out, and even then, he was aware that Jay was with her. Jay took things to the extreme and decided to act like Cole and Nya were dating from the get go. It was always Jay who instigated things. It was Cole's fault for going along with it too, but just… I don't get why he was taking it too seriously. That's all I really want to say on it at this point, since we couldn't do anything to stop Jay and Cole.

I was talking with Cole before he went out to his fight. I felt like I'd failed somehow. It was too soon for this to happen. I didn't want to lose my team already. I'd had to do so much to get them together, and now they were falling apart. And that didn't exactly bode well for us. I wasn't at peace with it! I tried to tell Cole that he could control how he fought Jay, and to remember Chen was the enemy. There was still time for him to make peace with Jay. But Cole pointed out that it didn't' even matter, since if the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend, how do you defeat a friend?

My dad reassured me that I'd done all I could, and I wasn't at fault. I wasn't sure why, but that really did help. My dad was the reason I was confident as I was on the island. He'd come with us, despite disagreeing with what we were doing, and was doing all he could to help guide me. He was there, right beside us, doing all he could to keep us together. I could tell just from the way he talked, he wasn't happy about this either. From there on, I just had to pray they fixed it themselves. I'd never felt so sick to my gut having to watch a fight go down. One of them was going to lose, and Chen was going to break us apart.

I didn't feel good watching it start. The two were actually fighting for real. Jay was going off like some massive bug zapper and Cole was throwing rocks at him. The two were shouting and punching at each other. I think I even saw some of the others laughing at how angry the two of them were. They weren't holding back, and it looked like the team really was going to fall apart. I knew that if they defeated each other like this, they'd never be brothers again. With how hard Jay was attacking him, I was afraid that he would actually try to hurt Cole. Then I realized if Cole actually hit Jay hard enough with a rock, he could actually do a lot worse.

I think dad saw how worried I was. I wasn't able to look away. I must have looked like I was going to throw up. He reached over and put his arm around me, and told me that this was their fight. I don't know why, but that made me gasp like I'd been holding my breath. I couldn't relax, but he drew me out of the dark places. He knew when I needed him.

Cole was the one that broke first. He stopped attacking as soon as he actually managed to knock Jay over. I think it hit him he was actually going to hurt Jay. Neither of them were going after the jadeblade, which was the entire point. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I could tell that he had gotten through to Jay. He talked Jay down from attacking him. The two actually understood what I was saying. They wouldn't get anywhere from fighting. They were going to play right into Chen's hand. They couldn't be each other's enemy.

I was incredibly happy to see that. I really wish that it'd worked out that way, and Chen would have just been forced to call the match. The two began to fake fight each other, which bored Chen. He sent out several vehicles into the arena to try to force them to fight by force, but the two of them were working together. As a leader, that alone made me more relieved than I could even imagine. I thought, for a few moments, Chen would let us have this.

In order to force the two of them to actually fight, however, he hit a button that caused the floor of the arena to start breaking apart. Either both of them would lose, or one of them would have to actually claim the jadeblade. I went from happy, to relieved, to angry all in the span of a few seconds. I think I actually stood up like I was going to go and fight with Chen, but my dad took hold of me. He didn't say anything, but I knew that I couldn't go and do anything. It happened fast form there, since Chen was willing to end the match soon. Cole managed to get to the jadeblade and draw it. Jay stood on the falling floor, getting ready to accept his loss.

...then Cole threw the blade and gave it to Jay. Chen declared this Jay's victory. Jay said that Cole told him that he had to go on and win this for him, and that Nya was his. Then, Cole was gone. I knew what was coming the second I saw Cole throw it, but watching him fall was… painful. I knew he was going to be okay, but it meant we'd lost. We were already down one member… again.

Chen's tournament of deception was in full swing, and we'd already fallen to part of it. My dad assured me that we'd have more chances, but I didn't know what we could do. If we tried to make a move on Chen, he'd take us out. If we kept playing this game, soon, only one would remain. Our time on the island was limited… and it was about to get even weirder.

* * *

Lloyd slowly looked up from his seat towards Cole, "So… how'd I do with that?"

"What do you mean?" Cole blinked, "Like, how'd you do with what?"

"With, capturing the fact that everything happened and, all that stuff?" Lloyd asked curiously, "Like, I was talking about you, and you didn't say anything, so I figured it was alright."

"You pretty much got it," Cole crossed his arms, "You're probably right saying that I got dragged into it by Nya. And I never really had feelings for her. I was just doing that because I wanted to settle things."

"And you're not, you know, upset that you gave up on that?" Lloyd asked, "I know that sounds, weird, but you were pretty into it at the time and-"

"Jay and Nya are meant to be together," Cole affirmed to Lloyd, "And it wasn't my place to get involved in the first place. Better I just stay out of it. And like I said, I don't like thinking about it either. So don't worry about it."

"I know it's weird to sit and watch someone else talk about you," Lloyd pointed out, "So I always check."

"Don't worry about that," Cole stood up, "If I got an issue with it, I'll let you know. I'm not the kind of guy to cut you off or anything."

"Thanks," Lloyd paused, "You mind if I go onto the next chapter? I'm kinda still on the tournament and all that so, I think it'd be better if we just got it all done up to when we had to go and hunt down Nya."

"You sure?" Cole asked, but sat down all the same, "I mean, I don't mind. Do you still wanna work out afterwards?"

"...Sure," Lloyd stated with a nervous smile. Just the thought of how Cole had pushed him to complete the set of reps on the bench made his arms burn in memory pain. Cole didn't seem to notice the sheepish grin and instead gave a pump of his fist.

"Awesome!" Cole sat back, "Trust me, you follow the plan I worked up and you'll be stronger in no time!"

"H-Heh, yep, of course I will!" Lloyd grimaced, "Thanks for doing that with me, Cole. Couldn't, do it on my own."

"Don't mention it," Cole smirked, "Let's rock this chapter out so we can get to it!"

"S-Sure thing," Lloyd straightened himself up, "I guess, form here on out you'll be learning some more stuff. If you got questions then you can ask, but I'll try to explain it all."

"Sweet," Cole leaned in, "Let's do this."


	19. Thunderblade and Nothing Gained

Of every single horrible thing that I have to thank for Chen, learning how to rollerskate is probably the oddest. I know, it's weird to thank someone for forcing you to rollerskate in Thunderblade at one in the morning while under threat of having your powers stripped away and then taken to some sort of 'factory,' but I learned a lot that day. It's not even something that's even that useful, really. I was named the new Thunderblade champion, a title that I still hold to this day, so I guess that's neat.

It happened just after the match of Skylar versus Jacob, Amber versus Sound. It's actually kinda important that I mention now that Skylar was the master of Amber, since it paved the way for Kai to stop thinking that they were potentially related. It was something that I knew he had on his mind, given how attracted he was to her. It wasn't until recently that I was able to understand how that actually felt for someone… and also know what it was like for someone to be manipulating you the entire time. You know, come to think of it, both Skylar and Harumi romanced the two of us knowingly until they were able to get the upper hand on us and betray us. The only difference is Kai can still go see Skylar, and she wasn't as evil as she really seemed all along. He learned it in the first match after Cole was knocked out of the tournament.

The match was an interesting one, but it was also the most tame in terms of action. It was a game of cat and mouse between Jacob -Master of Sound, whom I not only learned was blind but that my dad had met him before, and Skylar. The arena was set up with several pots that had a jadeblade inside one of them. Skylar had both a bow and arrow and a spear on her, while Jacob just had his guitar. I realized after a few minutes of watching them that Jacob was strumming his guitar in order to see the area around him, like some sort of like echolocation. Skylar, meanwhile, was trying to avoid that and attack him to give herself more time.

Somehow, Kai was late to the match, which was odd given how much he cared about Skylar. When he entered, he managed to, literally, step on everyone's toes getting to us in our seats. With the numbers of the elemental masters in play whittling down, it became obvious that a clear divide was forming between all of us. It didn't help that I was still reeling over the fact that we'd just lost Cole and hadn't made any progress in finding Zane. We knew that Chen was always watching us, and we had to keep playing along. Given that he often had these weird trapdoors hidden almost everywhere in the entire island, it wouldn't surprise me if he would be able to snag us at any moment. But more than that, he had some sort of plan, and we needed to figure out what that plan was. We couldn't just go confront him about it, and had to keep pretending that we didn't know. Yet, everytime I saw Chen, I felt like he was just giggling that he knew our little secret. I didn't realize just how true that was until that night.

Skylar won by breaking a hole open in the wall, causing Jacob to get confused and for her to finally realize which pot had the blade. Kai was… very enthusiastic about the fact she won. Again, I didn't understand the feeling of being head over heels for someone until recently. I guess I can forgive Kai for his actions, kinda. I mean, he never made any sort of move on Skylar, or did anything to ever get to her. A lot of people say Kai is dumb, but he never did anything that could have been seen as creepy. I don't even think he even tried to talk to her unless the two saw each other. All things considered…. he was pretty cool about the whole thing. But this was mostly after my dad confirmed she was the master of Amber.

Skylar… I have a lot to say about her. It's nothing bad about her. She's a hard worker and incredibly easy to talk to. You don't have to worry about what you say around her, she'll likely just throw a joke out at you if you mess up. She also has brought Chen's Noodle house up several stars in terms of food quality. He was great before, but now that it wasn't being made by slave labor, she turned that place from 'pretty good' to 'must eat' in just a few months. I guess what always gets me, is how odd it was that she was only ever got involved with things recently.

We can all count on Skylar to help clean up some small crime around Ninjago City. She's worked with Samurai X before, but she seems… content to be in that noodle shop. Now, I'm not saying that's a bad choice. I actually think it's pretty neat that she does that! But… I realize that she actually could be incredibly powerful if she tried to be. There didn't seem to be any sort of limit on how many powers she could hold. Chen even specifically later used her for that very purpose. Whenever something big happens in the city, though, she never gets involved.

Like, for example, during the Vermillion raids on Ninjago, where they stole all that metal, she was in the city at the time. I know she was, cause Kai went and talked to her during all of that. Not only that, but Nya too. Skylar seemed perfectly happy to be in that noodle shop. Kai said that Nya made a comment about it and rattled her, but she still decided to stay in the shop. Even when the city was under attack, the only time she came to help us was when the city was under Emperor Garmadon's rule. I get why she did, since it meant her business was taken out… but even then, that was the only time.

This might sound strange to say, but I've noticed that whenever powerful people tend to get involved with us, they often don't get involved again. Skylar, who can use any element she wants to if she can find the right person, decides to run a noodle shop and stay out of any conflict unless it hurts her business. All of the other elemental masters all left to go back home, which I get… but after they arrived to help the Resistance, they were all captured and taken out, almost as soon as they got there. When Master Yang got involved with Cole, he was left behind as a spirit in the temple (which I still wonder where it is). If Jay's wild claims about us having an entire adventure that got erased from time are true, we befriend an entire pirate crew… which were then un-befriended. Even recently, when the others met the Dragon Hunters, Faith said she'd stay behind in the First Realm and help them there instead of coming to Ninjago (we will get to them a lot later). Whenever we make allies, they get… sidelined, I guess.

I guess that comes to mind now since this is when Skylar became important. But, back to the match. After Chen had captured Jacob -and I admit, seeing them fall like that made my gut churn whenever I saw it knowing what happened next- he decided to pull a bit more manipulation on us. He told everyone for their participation he'd give them all extra jewels, only to then say he was instead taking away our fancy rooms for the night due to Jay and Cole. Chen really wanted to have a target on our backs. On top of that, we'd all have to sleep in the chow house. I realize now why he did that, but after that I knew none of them were going to help us. It stung a lot that Neuro was included in that, given that he knew about Chen now.

That night, while we were sleeping, my dad told me that I needed to focus on maintaining my enemies. By strengthening my bond with my friends, I strained those with the others. Given that it was a tournament, that was to be expected, but I'd already learned from my dad that they could fight a lot harder if they were angry. They were more likely to become a much larger threat than being just competitors if we weren't careful.

We saw that in action that night. Clouse woke us all up and had the cultists strap rollerskates to all of us. My back was hurting from the bed, I'd gotten little sleep, and to top it all off, our plan to sneak around and try to find where Chen was keeping Cole and Zane was ripped apart. And as if that wasn't enough, the match was between me and Chamille.

Now, I'd never even heard of Thunderblade before. Apparently, the game was that we were given a jadeblade each, and had to do laps around the arena. Whoever did more laps with their blade, won. That was easy to understand -why it had to be on rollerskates I guess was just Chen being Chen- but what sealed the deal was the fact that Chen allowed everyone else to pick a side to help. Everyone but Jay and Kai decided to help Chamille. My dad had said that we were making enemies, and now it was coming to light. Chen wanted me out of this tournament and soon, and he'd picked the best way to do it.

Chamille was someone I hadn't paid much mind to. She didn't really have a power that was 'flashy' or had fought before now. She'd always been in the background, and I think that was by her nature. The first thing she did was disguise as Kai and talk herself up. She must have been studying him, since I didn't even realize it until the actual Kai came up behind me and tripped over his skates.

Chen's plan was really simple. He told the others that they could fight for whatever team they wanted to. So, of course, that meant everyone by Kai and Jay went to help Chamille. Given that Kai couldn't skate, I basically only had Jay on my team.

The only reason I knew how to skate was because I'd done it when I was out partying with Pythor the first time. I'm completely serious. One of the things that we did was go and learn how to rollerskate. It mainly requires you to have good balance and keep a good forward speed going, so once I became a ninja it clicked for me pretty well. Now, as for why I took Pythor skating… I'd wanted to see if he'd figure out a way to skate with that giant tail of his. So, not only did I have all of the other elemental masters against me, I was being forced to fight for my power and my spot in the tournament while Chen was shouting to us that he wanted Chamille to win.

Once we started, Chamille and I were neck and neck. She was one of the people there that seemed to actually know how to fight, since she was able to block me pretty much whenever she wanted. The race was a battle between her, the other masters, and me. She refused to let me get a lead. I thought about trying to use my power -which oddly Chen has called me master of power and energy before- but I knew the second I tried I wouldn't be able to control myself. Later on, Kai did the same thing with his fire, and he nearly went into a wall. I would have done that, but also gone through the wall.

So I was forced to just rely on keeping up with her. While I was racing, the others started to fight. We were both so fast we started to outlap the others, who immediately blocked me off. That was when I started to realize just how much this entire thing was going to be stacked against me. It didn't help that the second Jay got me an opening to go through, Kai grabbed me and knocked us both down! In the span of about ten seconds I was put down a lap, and that was just at the start!

Okay, so not only were all the others masters out to get me, but Chamille told Shade to literally strike me in the back! If he'd had a knife, he'd literally have stabbed me in the back! And then, on top of that, Chen started to use all of his stupid buttons to start raising and lowering platforms all over the track, just to knock me down again. I know that he wanted me out, but at this point he might as well have just opened a trapdoor and taken me out that way, since he was just piling it on!

Speaking of piling it on, Griffin decided to grab Jay, accelerate him all the way around the track, and throw him into me. Like, sure, it actually helped knock my back into place again, but at that point it was just completely ridiculous. And _then_ Chen released a buggy, a gigantic big brown snake and spiky buggy, onto the tracks just to let Chamille hang on and outlap me even more! It was getting more and more hopeless by the second, and I was just trying my best to keep up and watch my back!

This happened a bit later, but as if to say that even when things started to go right they weren't going to get better, I offered Chamille a chance to stand with us against Chen. I reached out my hand and told her that we could all win, together. And not only did she pull me out of a moving buggy, but she didn't even take it for herself! She spouted Chen's line about how 'only one can remain' and then just kept going!

Oh! And just to add to that, at the very end when I was about to win, Chen started to rig the score that I would lose by total laps, even if I was going to outlap Chamille by the end! And Clouse was going to try to attack me with dark magic too. Had my dad not leapt on him, he would have probably just ended the entire match right there. I know he didn't like me, I know he wanted me out, but he couldn't have just been… a little less obvious?!

The only reason that I won was because Jay and Kai suggested that we try to tell the others about Chen. I was so annoyed, in pain and tired at that point I was willing to try anything, anything at all. I put on a smile and told the others that it wasn't too late to make a difference or, something like that. I don't even remember… it was something really silly I'm sure. Either way, Neuro decided that was the right moment to say that we were telling the truth. He said he waited so long because he wanted to be on the 'winning side.' I wanted to both punch him and thank him at the same time. I didn't say anything.

That was when Kai and Skylar took the buggy that was still on the track and gave it to me. It, for some reason, turned into this really nice green buggy with golden swords and all sorts of things on it. I just poured a little bit of my power into it to charge up the engine, and it transformed. I… don't actually know what happened. Honestly, I forgot that I did that. I don't know how to do that and, I guess it was just at the moment? I never saw that buggy again… or, maybe one more time. It was, kinda random. But, that was when I managed to catch up with Chamille in laps despite Chen's meddling and she dragged me out.

Once I got up, we were almost out of time. The two of us were right there, fighting with each other. Whenever I get really into a fight, I don't remember that much. I was so focused on pushing her back, I wasn't planning out my next move. I was just fighting her, and it wasn't much beyond that. The others had fallen so far behind they couldn't interfere anymore. I, actually think this was the only time I ever used the jadeblade as an actual weapon. The next time I was thinking, the game was over.

The look on Chen's face when I revealed I'd managed to knock Chamille's blade away was worth it. Almost. On top of that, Skylar had used gravity to knock down my score to read that I had 106 laps. I don't know if that's official or not, but if that is true then I am technically the world recorder holder for most Thunderblade laps. Not that I've ever done that again. Chen was so angry he screamed at us, saying that I'd cheated. I was terrified that he might actually decide that I lose right then and there.

Thankfully, our goal to make friends paid off. The others said that if I lost, they'd withdraw from the tournament. Chen couldn't steal our powers if we weren't willing to fight. Since we still had so many of us in the tournament, we could take Chen and everyone there if he tried to fight us. So, out of rage, he instead declared Chamille as the loser. Watching her go down after all of that stuff she pulled… it was both really satisfying, and a bit gut wrenching, since I knew she was going to lose her powers now. I get what Kai was saying when he felt bad for Karlof.

It felt like we'd made progress in the tournament. We had an alliance going. We could now force Chen to play to us, to make sure he didn't try anything like what he wanted to do to me. If the others didn't' believe us, they wouldn't have raised any objection to Chen dropping me out of the tournament. Now… we had something. We could finally start to work our way towards Zane, as long as we had the alliance on our backs.

This is where Chen's real genius comes into play. Chen doesn't just let you think that you've won. You might have actually pulled one over on him. But the first that he'll do is set his sights to tearing you apart. He takes what you thought was your strength and then makes it your biggest weakness. And as soon as you start to have that happen, you don't know what's happening until it's done. He'd already turned the fact we were a team into our weakness, making us both compete in the tournament and put us at a disadvantage to keep us down. He now was going to make it so whatever we did, we'd lose.

Shade, the master of Shadow, at some point dueled Tox, master of Poison, and knocked her out of the tournament. It really happened really quickly. I don't even remember the match, given how fast it was. Chen had finally, after changing around the bracket, gotten us through the first round. There were only eight of us left: myself, Kai, Jay, Shade, Skylar, Griffin, Neuro and Paleman. At this point, my dad reminded me that with every victory, Chen would just get stronger. By now, we needed to focus on keeping together, rather than winning. If Chen got more powers, he'd be too powerful. Neuro had already made clear by now that Chen was having Clouse do some sort of spell that required elemental powers.

It was the day after the match, after I'd gotten way too much sleep to make up for missing so much that night, and we were at my feast. Chen didn't seem to harbor anything towards me, but he was trying to serve me eyeballs and wasp eggs, so… he might have still been trying to mess with me. Either way, we were going to try to make a plan together with the alliance.

In the middle of the meal, Chen stood up and said he had an announcement. He said that he heard a rumor that he was taking everyone's elemental powers and keeping them. I was glad I wasn't eating, since I nearly choked on my food. I couldn't even say anything before he then said that he was! He shooed his creepy dancers away, and then brought the actual staff!

With just a few sentences, everything we had an advantage on was cracking. Chen told us that he was storing the elemental powers, and the staff was the prize for whoever won the tournament. Just like that, all of the others started to turn on us again. I tried to tell them Chen was lying to them and he needed them for something, but Griffin brought up we could just be trying to win it for ourselves. The thing is… if I hadn't seen what Chen was doing, I'd totally believe them. Chen was owning up to what we were accusing him of. But that was when the real kicker came in.

I said that Neuro had seen inside of Clouse's mind, and that he was doing some sort of spell. It wasn't until I said it, I realized why I shouldn't have. Neuro, who was the only one that we could truly trust to believe us in full, was now forced to pick between us. He could either stand beside us and paint a target on him like we did to ourselves, or he could believe in Chen's lies. Whether or not he actually thought Chen was lying, wasn't important. Chen forced anyone who was on the fence to believe him by using my own words to paint me as the enemy to the tournament. Even my dad realized as soon as I sat down that the alliance was over.

We, however, were given something of good news even as I was getting angry at having Chen take that away from me already. Nya showed up, disguised as one of those dancers. She'd snuck onto the island to help us, and was working undercover. That alone made her invaluable to us. At the same time, Skylar found a fortune cookie saying that Cole had found Zane and they were planning on breaking out. Those two things gave us hope that we could do this. We agreed to have Nya attempt to go and take the spell by using her disguise, while Skylar reminded us that the fact Chen knew what we'd told the group meant we had a spy.

In hindsight, we should have realized that Skylar was against us the entire time. She had been manipulating us from the start. She didn't reveal her power, she leveraged Kai's affection for her, and she had gotten way too involved with the idea of an alliance. If what Chen was doing was accurate, she would have been compelled to do what Neuro did and give the cookie to Chen and stop us from knowing. She needed us to believe here, though, for what was about to come next.

After the meal, we gathered everyone up and told them that we knew there was a spy. I wasn't very subtle about saying I thought it was Shade. Shade hadn't made an effort to talk to any of us, and Griffin said he'd refused the idea of teaming up with us. He wasn't against the alliance, but he wasn't joining. I realize now that some people are just like that, and us pushing for him to be on our side actually just annoyed him more. But, still, at the time it was just very, very suspicious for us.

Thankfully, my dad came up with an incredibly simple solution: everyone that worked with Chen had the mark of the Anacondrai on their backs. Everyone was able to supply the fact they didn't have the mark, until we got down to Skylar and Shade. Skylar got defensive at the time, which was suspicious, but Shade decided to peace out of there. I guess he felt cornered, and worried that he would get labeled as the spy and dealt with somehow. The fact he bolted by turning into shadow and traveling to my dad's own to get out, only seemed to confirm this. In doing so, he caused Kai's big picture to fall and break Jay's leg. Knowing how that feels… that was rough. Just to make sure we felt it was him, Skylar then guilted Kai by showing she didn't have the mark. None of us even thought to question it, since we felt so guilty at having our alliance break down right at our feet.

While this was going on, there were two things that were happening: Dareth had come with Nya to the island, and had accidently alerted everyone to his presence by… singing along to a rock song and turning the speakers on by accident. I know that sounds incredibly dumb… but it actually worked out in a lot more ways than you'd think. While that was happening, Nya managed to get ahold of the spell, but was roped up in her kabuki role again before she could get it to us. Because of that, when the island was put on high alert, most of the guards in the temple were being sent out to try to find where Dareth was.

The reason I say this worked out is that when Nya was found out by Clouse, she was able to escape. Had the guards not been away from the temple, she'd have been overwhelmed. When she was simply fleeing from Clouse, however, she was able to take the time to get back her Samurai X gear and then flee into the jungle with the spell. While Dareth was captured, it mean that Nya was able to get into the jungle. If she hadn't been… it would have gone a lot worse.

At the same time, Cole had found Zane in the factory and broken him out after performing… I think Karlof called it an all you can eat breakout. He got captured in the end, but he used that to snag the keys to then go and find Zane. The two managed to escape, but knew they wouldn't make it far if they escaped. Instead, they let everyone else _think_ they'd escaped, and then returned to the factory. If you haven't guessed by now, the factory was Chen's slave labor system to make all of the food he then sold in his restaurant. While the two remained hidden among the workforce and let Chen think they were escaped, Dareth was taken there as well.

Everything had been lined up perfectly. None us knew it yet, but the next round of the tournament was going to be the last one. When we woke up the next day, Chen had given us new ninja suits, and told us that we'd be having a brand new round. After the last one I'd been in, I didn't think twice about what was about to happen. My dad demanded that he come along, and all of us loaded up into a small hanger to be flown over the island.

The tournament was about to begin again… and end.

* * *

Lloyd gave a massive gasp of effort as he pushed the weights away from his chest. Above him, Cole stood with his hands waiting to catch him if Lloyd couldn't do it. Lloyd, however, huffed hard, feeling the wall of weight that was preventing him from fully extending his arms. Cole, seeing his face starting to turn red, gripped the bar just in case.

"Come on!" Cole encouraged, "You got this! This is the last rep! Finish it out, Lloyd! Show me just how strong the Green Ninja really is!"

Lloyd focused hard, digging down into his chest to find that last push of strength he could. With a gasp of effort, he shoved his arms outwards, finally cresting the weights right overtop of him. As he overcame that final barrier, his arms began to tremble violently trying to support the weight. Without missing a beat, Cole quickly pulled the weights back, slotting it into the bench and letting Lloyd finally yank his sore hands down and fall limp off to his sides.

"Woohoo! You did it!" Cole pumped his fist, "Told you you could do it!"

"Y-Yeah… d-did…" Lloyd gasped out, his throat dried out, "W-Water?"

Cole, seeing Lloyd's arms looked like they weren't moving for a bit, reached down and gave him his bottle. Lloyd slowly reached up and squirted a long stream of what felt like life giving liquid straight into his mouth. After he managed to finally swallow it down with a large gasp and start to wash out the bad taste filling his throat, he focused on his core and forced himself to sit up on the bench.

"You're moving up a lot faster than I thought you would," Cole gestured to the multitude of weights Lloyd was already adding to the ends of his handle, "We might want to keep you at this one for a few days though. Moving too fast might end up burning out your muscles. It ain't all about just going bigger all the time."

"G-Glad you know about this stuff…" Lloyd groaned, finally finding his arms able to move, "Really, I am. I really have been meaning to work out outside of training… just, been busy, you know?"

"Always easier to go with someone else than alone," Cole pointed out, "I may climb mountains for fun, but I also work out with some guys down at the gym. Well…. I mean, I used to, now that the city is still, rebuilding and all that, I've had to make do here."

"If it helps," Lloyd offered him, "You still look really strong."

"Thanks," Cole smiled to him, "Am, uh, I still a good, book partner, you know?"

"You've been a great one," Lloyd pointed out, "I was worried you'd stop me and ask for clarification and stuff… but, you seem to really know how to let me just, finish. I got a little into it there with the whole Thunderblade thing."

"Honestly, if you sit back and listen, usually you can answer your own questions," Cole crossed his arms, "Figured that out when my dad sent me to school. A lot of the time, instructors didn't answer questions directly. I figured out I could pick up dance moves by being quiet and only asking things when I had no clue. It's a skill Jay could probably learn."

"Don't go starting up that whole fued thing again!" Lloyd snapped at him. The two locked eyes, then both began to laugh.

"Whew, oh man, you really think I'd do that again?" Cole grinned, "You've been bringing that up a lot, you know!"

"Well after this I don't think I need to mention it again," Lloyd pointed out, "Might as well just put it behind us now and laugh about it instead."

"Agreed," Cole smirked, "You ready for more?"

"More?" Lloyd paused, "T-There's more?"

"Of course there is! You can't just work your arms. Normally, I'd have you alternate, but I figured I'd give you a taste of it today," Cole turned.

Lloyd saw something that looked… scart. It was a bench that was tilted down, so he'd be laying with his feet in the air. There was a massive metal sheet that looked like he would be pushing it up with his legs. He could tell there were weights put on it.

"That's a leg press. It'll help build up your core and a bunch of your leg muscles all at once," Cole explained, "Come on, you should have a lot of energy down there."

"Y-Yeah, of course I do!" Lloyd shuddered, "Let's get to it!"


	20. The Semifinal Round, Jungle Style

There is a reason that I never will fly in a plane unless I know exactly where I can find the parachute or failsafe system, and that's thanks to Chen too. The tournament had been so strange, all of us piling into a big zeppelin was just normal by that point. None of us had any reason to suspect something was up. We didn't know yet that Nya had been found out on the island, so we were instead still rolling along with the tournament. We figured we'd be taking us somewhere new, but instead he flew up several hundred feet up over the island.

Everyone inside of the seats was tense. Jay had broken his leg and everyone, Griffin especially, was gunning for him. Everyone was still on edge after the entire bit with the spy, and we'd gone from being trusted to hated even more than we were before. I wasn't exactly feeling good either, since Chen was being coy and we hadn't heard from Nya yet. We all assumed Shade was the spy, and it didn't help that he didn't deny Kai provoking him either. It was a very awkward ride with all of us thinking, for better or worse, that we were going to get knocked out of the tournament soon. Even my father told me I should be wary of what was going to happen next. He always gave the practical advice that I needed.

Neuro panicked after seeing how high we were, and I admit I wasn't exactly feeling good about it either. We were so high I could cover the island with my hand in front of my face. And when Neuro finally snapped and threw the cockpit open, we got ourselves another surprise from Chen: it was empty. Chen came on the console and told us that the next round had started, and the objective had changed. Rather than fighting for a jadeblade, we were going to be sent off into the island to go and search for an 'intruder:' Nya.

As soon as Chen told us this, the floor to the entire zeppelin started to open up. There were 8 finalists, and there were 8 parachutes. We all scrambled to go and grab a parachute… until I realized that my dad had come along with us. Chen casually said he wasn't good at math, and then cut out his feed. I've never seen someone be so calm about telling someoen they were going to murder them, but Chen didn't even blink. Even the other villains that said they were going to kill us at least acted like it was something important!

But we didn't get another chance to think about it. We were all spilled out with our parachutes, right into the open air. If I hadn't already been used to flying on a dragon for months during my tour of Ninjago, I would have probably developed a phobia of the sky or something. Everyone was being whipped around in the sky until we could get ourselves steady enough to focus on getting a parachute. My father was right behind me. The wind was so loud I could barely hear my dad yelling at me as loud as he could. I'd flown before, but I was so rattled, terrified, I couldn't think straight.

One of the others said I should use my energy dragon. After I lost my golden power, I'd tested to see if I could make a golden dragon. It turns out that I could, but it wasn't golden anymore. It was now completely green, and I thought I was the only one that could. The others couldn't, even with their full elemental powers. But as soon as I tried to summon it, it wouldn't form!

My dad shouted that I wasn't controlling my fear. I had to center myself if I wanted to use it. At the time, I didn't know what he meant, but it was true. Elemental dragons require you to focus hard and put aside all your fear to control them. Think of it like balancing a plate on your head. If you get scared or tense up, you'll drop it and shatter it. You have to be able to hold still and stay calm if you want to use one. That's the biggest disadvantage to them, alongside the fact they took a lot of energy to make. Using a dragon feels like running a marathon after awhile, so you had to pace using them. But of course, I was falling down to my imminent demise, so I wasn't thinking about that at all. I was just trying to figure out what I was going to do about my dad!

By the time that I got a chance to even grab a parachute, everyone else had already opened theirs. I kept trying to form my dragon, but every time I looked at the ground that was moving up to splatter me across the ground I couldn't do it. It feels like when you do a pushup, and you get halfway up before you feel that big push you gotta do to get all the way up. Only that push was me forming a dragon of energy, and the pushup was me rapidly hurtling towards the ground.

My dad and I both grabbed onto one. We were close enough now, I knew if we waited longer we wouldn't have enough time to land. They were only built for one. My dad looked me dead in the eyes and told me the choice was obvious. I didn't need to even think to know what he was saying. As soon as he said that, I must have felt something snap in me. I realized immediately that there was no way I could take it. It gave me those few moments I needed to finally get my head on straight. So I opened it and shoved it into my dad. He screamed at me in terror as it looked like I'd just committed suicide for him.

I didn't, of course. As soon as I knew that I _had_ to do this, that I couldn't afford to not do it, I felt that push inside me clear up. I was able to get over my fear as soon as I knew that I knew what I was looking towards. I wasn't doing it to save myself, I was doing it to save him. So, right before I hit the ground, I formed my dragon and shot myself up into the air. I won't lie and say that I didn't immediately collapse as I realized how close I'd just come to dying once I landed.

The others all landed in random locations, so I decided to fly off towards my dad. I didn't get to see where the others were, instead I was focused on my dad. The first thing he did was immediately smack me for making him think that I had just killed myself, then hug me and warn that even if he was proud of me for overcoming my fear, I shouldn't give it all right back to him. That hug gave me a lot of time to really feel the gravity of what I'd just pulled off. I promised him I wouldn't go trying that again, and I wouldn't do anything to pull us apart like that. I… wish I hadn't said that, given what I was about to learn.

I thought about trying to find the others, but my dad told me it would be smarter to cover ground alone. That was when we found footprints. Now, Nya was smart, and had a lot of our ninja training, so we instead found they were a distraction that led us to find the symbols she was carving through the forest. They were her Samurai X symbols, so it wasn't like the others would know what it was. We started to look for more of them to find where she was going.

While we were covering ground, I realized that this was the first time I'd been alone with my father since this entire island thing had started. Yes, he snuck into my room at night to have a place to sleep, but that was us being asleep and not really talking. Most other times that we'd talked, it was always either at a tournament or with someone else. This was just me and him, alone together. Given that we were in a jungle, I remembered the last time we'd been alone together in a jungle. I got a bit sick when I thought that.

The more we walked, the more things started to pop up in my head. I was able to think clearly for the first time in… a long time. I'd been focused on staying in the tournament, making plans, worrying about where Zane was, how Cole was doing, I realized that I hadn't really thought about something my dad had told us when we got to the island: he had trained under Chen. It didn't make sense to me. I had assumed my dad had been bitten and stayed with Wu until he met my mother, and then hada me. I hadn't really thought about how Chen fit into that equation. And when I asked him about it… I felt like everything changed.

First, the title of Lord, which I mentioned before I think, was gained when he beat Clouse in a duel one day at Chen's random declaration that he'd grant his lordship to whoever won a mock battle. He won by cheating and using Spinjitzu, which began the longstanding hatred that he and Clouse still had for one another. After that, Chen felt he could share his plans to Garmadon, about his plans to start the Serpentine Wars after peace negotiations had hit a snag.

I don't know why Chen did it. He seems like the person that simply wanted to see how everything was going to end up. He wanted to see how the flames would burn, I think. My dad was horrified by this. Given that he was a son of the First Spinjitzu Master, he felt a desire for peace above all else. Even the venom that was still inside of him tempting him wasn't enough to make him stand beside Chen. But, even before that, Chen did something that… still makes me unsure how to feel about to this day.

Chen intercepted a love letter from Wu to Misako and found Wu hadn't signed it. As a reward for winning the battle, Chen presented him that letter and said he knew Garmadon was in love with her. All he had to do was sign that letter and, that was it. Misako would fall in love with him. And… he did.

I… I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. I found out that the love between my parents, was built on a lie. My father said he wasn't proud of his past, but he didn't have any regrets. He'd been tricking my mother with the reason she fell for him, for years. Their entire relationship, was built on Chen's deception. And that meant… I was here because of Chen. If Chen hadn't, then I wouldn't have been born. Ninjago's destiny, the whole thing with the Green Ninja, the prophecy, it was all only fulfilled, because of Chen. I… in a way, I owe my life, to Chen.

I felt horrified at first. I mean… how do you react to your dad saying that he's lied to your mother since before you were born? How do you even react to that? I… I didn't even feel comfortable saying anything. I can't… I still can't really figure out how I feel about it. I was shocked knowing that this man Chen that I'd never met before, that I might not have ever met if he hadn't started this tournament, was so… so personal to me.

But on the other hand… I felt scared. I mean… it was that easy to have _me_ of everyone in Ninjago. It was that easy to make, the savior of Ninjago. I didn't like to think of myself as this, person to be put on a high pedestal. I always have tried to look at myself as just a guy that stood up when he was needed. But… but I can't just ignore the fact I was destined to become what I am today. I still sometimes like to think that destiny is something that just influences you in little ways to make your choices, but when I think about that letter… Is destiny that easy to influence?

I got a chance to read that letter, one day. After the island, I told my mom I wanted to see it. She let me read it. It… was beautiful. You could tell that Wu had poured his heart into that letter. He'd worked hard to make sure that he'd shown everything he had to Misako. He'd detailed everything to her. It was honestly, amazing. If I was a girl, I'd probably have fallen for the writer too. Wu never really does do much writing… I wonder if this is the reason why.

And then… at the end, right after the line asking her if she would be his, was my dad's signature. When I saw it, it felt wrong. It was like ink spilled on the page and, had made that signature instead. It was something so… so wrong. I wanted to scrub it off. But, I couldn't. It was like if I tried to, I'd stop being there. It wasn't meant to be there, even if I was there because of it.

My dad went on further to tell that after that, he'd been ashamed at both his own actions and the way that Chen had thrust Ninjago into war, that he left to go and help his brother in fighting back. The first Elemental Alliance, made up of all the elemental masters of the past, was led by them into battle. They had some victories at first, but that they couldn't overcome the Anacondrai. They were the strongest tribe. Having fought Pythor, who probably isn't even that good a representation of the tribe as a whole, I could only imagine what fighting an army of him was like. I know now, and it's terrifying.

On top of that, Chen had turned the Master of Earth against the rest of the alliance and effectively started to turn the war against them. As soon as he did, everything changed. The Anacondrai were able to take a near flawless victory as the split crumbled the resolve of the alliance. The only reason the war was won was my dad seeing that someone had used a flute to charm an everyday snake. Using that flute, they were able to produce sacred flutes that could control the Serpentine. With that, the war reversed itself in days.

To punish the Anacondrai Generals that Chen had deceived into making the war happen so violently, my dad used the book of spells that Clouse now owned to banish the generals to the Cursed Realm. We didn't know about the other realms at that point, so hearing that was hard to understand. I only got that they were gone now, and had been banished for their crimes. Chen and Clouse were exiled to his island, where (somehow) he managed to build up his noodle and criminal empire.

In the span of maybe fifteen minutes of my dad telling me everything I asked, it felt like my entire life had changed. It… it felt wrong. My dad, he hadn't ever told me this. I had thought that he and my mother were simply ripped apart by the circumstance of the venom that was corrupting him… but knowing that this had apparently been this way from the beginning, just made me feel awful. I didn't know how I was meant to react to the fact that this had all just… happened.

What surprised me, though, was when I told my dad he should have told her, he just… agreed. It was like he knew what he had to do, and he hardly put up a fight. He agreed after we fought on the island, he would tell my mom what happened. I'd expected him to be a lot more angry, or say he didn't have to or… something. But instead he just, agreed like he hardly needed convincing. He was ready to make peace with his past, I guess.

It relaxed me to know that he wasn't going to try to argue that he didn't need to say anything to her. It… made me feel better enough at the time to get working on finding Nya again. It wasn't that long before we found more of her symbols. While I was grappling with all of this, Chen decided it was time that the tournament be over. He'd given everyone little 'gifts' ranging from a bow and arrow to a full on mech to track them. He used them to capture everyone, even Jay. Kai found out during it that Skylar could use the power of ice, which only meant one thing: she was the spy. On top of that, she was Chen's daughter, and had hidden her tattoo using the power of form. She called her father to her to have Chen capture Kai.

Nya found us by chance a bit after Jay had gotten caught. She was babbling about how I was the only one left and that I had to stop Chen. Chen had stolen Nya's DBX -the vehicle that she'd taken with Dareth to the island- and was using it to capture everyone. She finally managed to hand us the spell that she'd been fighting so hard to keep. My dad read it as soon as he got it, and realized the spell was made for transforming anyone with the mark on the spell into an Anacondrai. Chen needed all of the elemental powers in order to do it.

Well… most of them. It's a little weird that he didn't need wind -which Morro had stuck in the Cursed Realm- or water -which Nya hadn't found yet- or time -which was, well, stuck in the Time Blades. I guess, we all thought we were the only elemental powers, and those three weren't all in Ninjago when it happened. I guess the spell must have just needed a certain amount of power. Given that the Anacondrai were resistant to almost all elemental powers, I guess using those powers to turn people into them made sense from that perspective.

It was clear now that Chen's front hadn't been to just gain power. He wanted to restart the Serpentine Wars. He wanted to turn everyone in his cult into his servants, and then use them in order to fuel his own evil plans. If I hadn't known what I needed to before, I knew already. We immediately made a plan to instead find where Chen was keeping the others and find a way to break them out. We couldn't let Chen just take our powers like that! That morning, we'd all woken up ready for the next round in the Tournament of Elements. Right now, Chen had declared me as the one that made it to the Final Round. His motto that 'only one can remain' was coming true right before my eyes.

We made our way back to the compound, and while I wanted to go in right away, my dad told me something that made me stop. Chen got his power by taking it from others, but true power would be able to give it to others. If I just rushed in without thinking, well, I wouldn't be able to do that. We were forced to wait until the sun had set and we found a good place to sneak into the compound. I didn't know where Chen was, but I was sure I could find him without a lot of effort. I would end this right there and then stop this whole stupid plan he had.

I really wish I could say that it went smoothly and we took the staff without ever being spotted. We made our way in by zipline and snuck into the main compound. Chen had rigged the place, so as soon as we entered, we set off his alarms. It was almost like he'd specifically left one hole open for us to get our way into… which, I guess is just like him. Nya stayed behind to deal with the swarm of guys that came for us, while my dad took Clouse off of me. I was the only one that could deal with this, and I went ahead without thinking much on it.

This is another reason why I despise trapdoors. I don't know how Chen knew what hallway I was in, but he sent me right into those weird catacombs he had all over the island. As soon as I landed, I heard the sound of that giant snake coming towards me. It was a straight hallway, and so it made more sense to run. As soon as I started, though, I saw a light off in the distance. Then I heard Kai calling out, telling me that he would help me get out. I didn't think twice about it and ran with him away from that snake.

Kai said that he'd managed to slip away, even if Chen had gotten their powers already. I told him that I needed to get to Chen and his staff, but Kai didn't say anything. We hadn't been walking for long, and when he turned and gave me this, weird smile, I felt bad. I asked him what was wrong, and he told me that it'd make sense when it was over. Before I could ask him what that meant, he blew out the torch.

I was confused out of my mind, and when I heard him running away, I followed him. Somehow, that led me to walk right back out into that main room we'd first entered the tournament in. Chen greeted me, saying that the Final Round was beginning. He'd even put my face and his face on the big board for the tournament bracket. It was all of his powers he now had, versus my one.

I didn't get a chance to wonder what Kai had done, or why he'd done that. I was at my destination, and I had to beat him. I had one goal: destroy that staff and return everyone's powers. I readied myself for battle, ready to end this tournament and finally be declared the victor. The semifinals were over, and I was the last one to stop him.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Lloyd huffed out as he lifted dumbbells, "The, entire time that we were fighting, you and Zane were working to build that Roto Jet?"

Cole pulled himself up from a deadlift, exhaling as he straightened his back out and held the weight up at his hips. He dropped the massive weight, giving a loud enough thud it made Lloyd slightly jump. He stretched his limbs out as he gave a long groan and sigh to him.

"I kept telling them, don't build a jet underground!" Cole rolled his eyes, "Over and over! It was a cool jet but like… they had to literally carry it everywhere just for it to be useful! Karlof could have built us literally anything else! Like… he turned noodle making machines into cannons! He could have made them for us to use on the guards!"

"The guards… would have… caught on a lot faster… than saying you were… fixing a machine," Lloyd huffed out between reps, "I just thought… you guys found the jet… underground!"

"And I thought Chen just took you out one by one instead of, you know, all of that," Cole rubbed his hands together to go down for another lift, "You never know what to think with that guy!"

"Y-Yeah, he's really… really bad!" Lloyd pulled his arm up one more time, "Forty… forty… shoot… no, was I on fourty?" He groaned, "I got messed up in thought. I'm just gonna call that forty and give my arms a break."

"Sounds good to me," Cole inhaled as he went down, gripping the bars and then lifting it up once more. He gave a hard exhale as the massive weights on either side strained against him, but he held firm. He let out a groan of exertion as he got it straight, then dropped it once more. The rumble shook Lloyd from the weight of it.

"How many more chapters are you thinking of doing with Chen?" Cole asked, moving over to get some water to squirt into his mouth, "If you're already there, then you only got like… a few more things, right?"

"Probably three or four more," Lloyd answered, cocking his head, "Any reason you ask?"

"Nah, I just, you know, wanted to know how many more sessions you'd like me sit down and, do with you," Cole chuckled, "I know you said you were thinking of having Kai do the next ones, so, I know you'll probably wanna do something else after them, you know?"

"...Are you asking if I'll still come work out with you, Cole?" Lloyd asked with a blink.

"What? Pssht, nah, I'm not asking that! You're already pretty strong. I mean, you've been moving up weights really well," Cole gestured to the large dumbbells he now held, "I just, you know, was wondering. I mean, it's probably healthy for you to at least, keep it up once a week or so, like, just to make sure you don't lose it all and stuff. I'd be happy to write you up something, if you'd want."

Lloyd smiled coyly, "How about we keep meeting like we've been doing so you can make my routine for me in person?" Lloyd lifted his arm up, looking at the defintion of it, "I'm not seeing much progress right now but, I'm sure that with a few more weeks I'll totally start getting results. Besides, it's easier to work out with someone than it is alone, right?"

Lloyd saw Cole smile hard for a few seconds. Then Cole shook himself slightly and went down to a more neutral smile, "Yeah, sure thing! I mean, it's good for this equipment to get used, you know?"

"I do know," Lloyd stretched his back out, "I still do Spinjitzu practice with Zane too. We started doing it after my chapters got a little more… intense. I moved it so I could work out with you, but you're welcome to come practice with us too if you want."

"Sure!" Cole stated eagerly, then reeled himself back in a bit more, "Sure, just let me know when and I'll be there."

"No problem," Lloyd looked over to his weight chart on the wall, "Think I'm ready to move up a set?"

"Easy there, tiger," Cole chuckled, "Let's go through the rest of your sets for today, then we can see next time if you can handle them. You don't wanna move up too fast. I'm already moving you up a bit faster than normal."

"You are the expert," Lloyd admitted, "I'll trust you on that."

"You can trust me on a lot of things," Cole pointed to himself, "Whatever I say is rock solid, just like me!"

"Of course it is," Lloyd chuckled, "Let's get to it."


	21. Never Trust a Chen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today was an incredibly hectic day, apologies that this went up so late. 
> 
> I want to inform everyone now that Autobiography of a Legend is going to go on hiatus after next week. I have been at a standstill with my writing progress, and the Season 5 chapters were both difficult to write and not completed in time. Therefore, while Ninjaverse will be continuing, Autobiography is going on hold. I apologize for this and will work to get it going as soon as I am able to get my muse back. 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

I lost to Chen. Badly. Really badly. It's one of the worst one sided battles I've ever fought in, and I fought against a lot of villains that clearly held the upper hand. I wish I could say that I won the Tournament of Elements, but I instead came in second. Yes, Chen had altered the bracket to have me versus him, so it technically counted as the final round.

Chen wasn't holding back on using all of the elements at his disposal to beat me senseless. I didn't even get a chance to land a single hit on him. The first time I attacked, he used speed to get out of the way. Just to taunt me, he used shadow to disappear so he could get into a good place to attack me. I only managed to dodge the burst of fire he sent at me because my reflexes were faster than I was. Even then, he froze the board I hid behind and then blew it up with fire as soon as I tried to leap over it.

I notice now that I tend to get a lot of my speeches in while I'm being attacked, and that gets the villains to go into their speeches too. Chen confirmed for me his plan was to rule Ninjago by 'those who deserve it.' He had an obsession with the Anacondrai, and felt they should have won the war. I tried to tell him that real power wasn't stealing, but that was when he decided to use gravity to fling me onto the ceiling. I don't know how anyone can fight when you can't even see which way is up or down. I admit, I have a lot of respect for Gravis after that. It all ended with me being thrown back onto the floor. Painfully.

Chen didn't listen to me, no matter what I said. I couldn't even get in close to get to that staff. It feels kind of hollow to tell him that he doesn't have real power, when he was able to defeat me, the Green Ninja, without a single scratch on him. I got back up from being thrown onto the ground again, and tried to send one last burst of power at him. All Chen did was turn his body to metal to reflect my own attack at me, and I was too exhausted to stop it. I was sent right into the bracket. As if to mock me, my picture on it broke apart and left Chen as the only one standing.

Chen declared himself the winner of the Tournament of Elements. I wasn't able to fight back at that point, and his guards simply took me away to be prepared for the final ceremony. I was going in and out of being conscious, since I'd smacked my head pretty badly when Chen did that knockout blow. That was when I got my first real taste of vengestone. One click of those chains and I couldn't use any of my powers. I've grown to really hate that stuff as time goes on.

In the meanwhile, both my dad and Nya got captured. Clouse decided to chain them up in the lair of his snake, which makes the second time of Chen casually trying to murder my dad. That was also when he tried to parade the fact that he'd turned Kai against them. While I was going in and out, I realized that Chen had told Kai something that made him willing to betray me. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't feel good about it.

There was something that Nya told me about my dad, that sticks with me. While they were down there, my dad grabbed Skylar and threatened to hurt her if Chen didn't let them go. However, Chen just laughed at him, and said that he was _Sensei_ Garmadon now. He reminded my dad that his anger wasn't going to rule him anymore. And, just like that, my dad let her go. My dad wasn't the man he once was. I don't know why… but, hearing that, it reminds me of how happy I was to have my dad. My dad, when he was Lord Garmadon, wouldn't have let her go. Now… now he was a different man. It reminded me of how thankful I was, that he was such a kind man on the island. It… it's a memory that I need, to remember more of him.

Now, I haven't mentioned this until now, but while this was happening, Cole and Zane had been working with Karlof and the others to build a way to escape the factory. Under the guise of making a noodle machine, Karlof had used his experience in aeronautical engineering (I think I said that right) to build a roto jet. Now… why they built a jet underground, I don't really get. I guess it was just something that made sense at the time? I just don't think about it, really. Cole was basically having his own story at that point. Either way, Chen had thrown everyone down into the factory after taking their powers, and they were all working on building that jet.

Right when two guards that kept weirdly talking up how they were 'moving up in the ranks' started taking me to the massive room we'd first seen Chen take Karlof's powers in, the cultists discovered the jet and forced them to make their move. While they were blasting their way out with the jet being… carried through the tunnels, I was being escorted down to Chen to have his massive ceremony.

While I was chained up, Kai came up to talk to me. I demanded to know why he'd done this, and Kai told me not to worry. He then gave an evil laugh and declared it wouldn't hurt 'that much,' which should have told me right there that he wasn't really into it. I'm starting to notice not many of us are really that good of actors except Jay. Either way, Chen started his ceremony, and drained his own daughter of her powers right in front of me.

As soon as he finished with her, leaving her looking sick, he immediately turned to me. I wish I could say that it was the worst pain of my life, but I'd already had that happen before. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. It just was like feeling weak and your body is kinda on fire and cold at the same time. The Digilord did it a lot worse. I was expecting a lot more, given how many times I'd already been thrown around and seen how much it hurt others. Honestly, I think they were kind of overreacting. But that may be that I already had gone through it once before.

While I was laying there weak, feeling empty inside -I didn't say that it didn't feel awful- Skylar and Kai made their move. Apparently, Kai had managed to not only trick Chen, but to also get Skylar to betray him. Things happened incredibly fast from that point on. Skylar kicked the staff away from Chen, and while Chen raged over his daughter betraying him (with a great comeback from Skylar that it ran in the family) Kai grabbed the staff. Kai started throwing bolts of everything all around the room, and saved me from Clouse trying to use the venom in the massive snake head above me to melt me (Chen LOVED his snake theming) with my own power. He freed me too, giving me enough time to realize something was wrong.

Having so much power corrupted Kai. I've noticed that most artifacts in Ninjago that have a lot of power, just seem to always corrupt you. Doesn't matter how good you are, you will start to get corrupted. While he was going back and forth on trying to control the staff, Kai said something that still makes me a little wary about our relationship to this day: he said he should have been the Green Ninja.

I thought Kai was over that by now, but apparently he wasn't. I don't know why, but hearing him say that he still wanted to be it, after all this time… hurt a little? Like, it wasn't something that I think about a lot, but it did hurt to hear that he still felt that way about me. He'd unlocked his True Potential by getting over it, but deep down he still felt that. I… guess I felt bad hearing that. That, and he was starting to walk towards me with a staff crackling with power that I couldn't defend against. That probably did a lot to amplify my fear.

I have to wonder… what if he'd been the Green Ninja? I know this is a bit off topic, but I just have to ask that. I mean, what if he'd actually done that? What if he'd actually been the one to save Ninjago, the one to actually go and take out the Overlord? What if… I'd just remained a kid that never grew into anything? I mean, I don't know how it would have worked, but I still think about it from time to time. I wonder if maybe, the Golden Master wouldn't have happened, if he'd had that power. I mean, sure, he wouldn't have been the most humble about it, but I know Kai has a sense of duty. He would have done all he could to protect Ninjago. So I just, have to wonder sometimes… why, did destiny choose me, a nobody kid with his only claim to fame being his evil dad, versus Kai?

Chen tempted him with just that, he told me later. He told Kai about the fact his parents had secrets that he didn't know about. He also taunted Kai about the fact he still worried about being the Green Ninja. I… have to wonder how much of what Chen taunted him about he really felt. I've asked him before, I've even gotten him to say he doesn't feel that way about me. But, I can't help it. It's one thing if a stranger covets your power, but when someone that has saved your life before, and gave up his own chance at glory for you, still wants it at the end of the day, it messes with you. I… I guess, sometimes I feel, guilty about it. And having him yelling that at me, like he really felt it but had it buried deep down, it just… really hurt me.

But Kai was stopped from doing anything by the Roto Jet burst into the room and knocking the staff out of his hands. The entire room went into chaos as soon as the other Elemental Masters came into the room. I noticed right away that Zane was there, and he looked… different.

Okay, another sidenote: a lot of Ninjago doesn't really remember that Zane sacrificed himself, since he came right back. His new Titanium body was really cool, and he's still updating it to this day. I guess what's odd to me, is that he decided to make his new form more… robotic. Like, before, he was a robot, yeah, but he was a human if you looked at him. Now, you can't look at him and say that he doesn't look like a robot. I'm not saying I'm upset or even that I don't like it, but it's just something that I notice. I was still overjoyed to have him back though.

Kai managed to get the staff and smash it apart, sending everyone's powers back. As soon as I felt my powers back, I turned my sights on everyone in the room. The other four rushed beside me. I felt the biggest smile I'd ever felt in a long time. My team was back together. We gave a massive onslaught of Spinjitzu just to make the occasion. We'd gotten back what Chen had stolen from us. We were a team again.

While we were all fighting, Chen, Clouse, Skylar and a few cultists managed to escape out of as ide passage. Skylar was taken prisoner, since Chen still needed her for the spell. By the time we rounded up everyone in Chen's palace, he was already long gone. Kai was upset, and I don't blame him. Still, as we all gathered up the remaining cultists and realized we now had control over the island, we finally felt like we'd gotten a victory.

To mark our victory, we sank the boat that Chen used to get to and from the island to make sure that he couldn't get off. To our knowledge, all of his vehicles were still at his palace, and he had to have escaped into the jungle. We locked away all of the cultists and declared that we were now in an allianc. While Chen had escaped, we now had finally gotten one over on his tournament, and had finally won. We trusted Chen would realize he was beaten and we could hunt him down without much issue.

With our victory, though, we forgot one thing: Chen was just as crafty as a snake. And there is only one saying when you deal with Serpentine: never trust a snake. Chen hadn't given up on his plans, even if we'd beaten him, driven him out of his own palace, and taken control of his island. We may have cut off his escape, but he still had both Clouse, the spell, and his daughter. What none of us realized, was that Skylar's amber power had absorbed the other powers while it was freed from the staff. Skylar still had the ability to provide all the elements that Chen needed for the spell.

It was the morning after we'd gotten control over the island that Skylar figured that out. While it sounds like I might be rushing through some of these events here, they all happened so fast, dwelling on them will be somewhat difficult. However, this was the point where everything began to change too. It's… this is the part that I often have the hardest time remembering, because of what came after. What… what came after still hurts to think about.

Skylar escaped and sent a message to Neuro, using mind, that she was in trouble. All of us went into the jungle to look for her. Kai was the one that ended up doing it, while Cole and my father took on Chen in his newly fixed copter. I was scouring the jungle, so I didn't see this happen. But, apparently, while they were dogfighting in the air, Clouse leapt onto the Roto Jet and then tried to attack it that way. My dad tackled him off, and the two fell all the way to the jungle floor. My dad intended to finish off Clouse once and for all… and that was just what he did.

Clouse opened up a portal to the Cursed Realm to try to drag my father inside. Dad had been the one to open a portal before to banish the Anacondrai Generals, and Clouse decided to make it ironic that he would be sucked in and deal with them again. My dad, however, managed to trick Clouse into getting dragged in as well. Just before it closed, he leapt out and let Clouse get dragged off to the Cursed Realm, by his own spell. While my dad only told me this in passing, it's important to remember the Cursed Realm. It's important not only for how Chen's entire army ended, but what happened… next.

Kai found Skylar and radioed to us that he was coming back with her. Sometime during his trip back, however, the two let their guard down enough for Chen's minions, apparently those two annoying ones that dragged me to the ceremony if what Kai said about them was right, capture them with vengestone. I really hate that stuff. We turned back and made our way back to the compound to regroup and wait for Kai, realizing soon that something was wrong. It wasn't even an hour after Skylar had first sent her message that… it happened.

My dad suddenly fell on the ground in pain. The tattoo on his back started glowing, and as soon as we started hissing, we figured out what was going on. Chen was performing the spell using Skylar and her absorbed elements. I've seen my dad transform before, and now that I know what possession feels like, this was probably a lot tamer than a lot of the others that I've seen. Still, we all watched in horror as his body shifted and cracked, his legs turned into a massive snake tail just like when Skales beat Slithera all the way back then, and his body turned purple. Oddly, my dad's face and hair remained, just colored purple and with scales instead of skin now, which made it easy to tell it was him. Given that everyone but Chen, Skylar and my dad were all given Serpentine heads, I guess we got lucky.

Of course, if my dad turned, that meant that all of Chen's followers did too. Chen had about 200 or so people on that island aside from us, and the fact we'd all tied them up together meant we suddenly were under attack. I have to say, Pythor was underselling himself. He could turn invisible, yes, but he never really attacked unless he had to. Seeing what those Anacondrai could do… was terrifying. They were like an unstoppable machine. All of our elemental powers barely even scratched them. They could get knocked down and around, so it wasn't like fighting the Stone Army. These were actual people, which made them unpredictable. Given they were all now fighting out of revenge, it also made them that much more motivated to beat us.

We held out behind the door to the compound. I was still reeling from everything that happened. I was giving orders, because I'm just kind of naturally that type of person I think, but I was still trying to understand the fact my dad was now an Anacondrai. It was just so… sudden. Really sudden! And there were swords and spears being stuck through the door. We were all desperate to try to hold out and push them back to figure out how to fight them when they just… vanished.

Chen knew how to stick it to us. He stole the Roto Jet, and used all of the copters we'd caught to pilot his troops off the island. At the time, it sounded like a wonderful thing to destroy all the other ways off the island, but Chen left us with nothing but the buggies and bikes. We were trapped on the island, and Chen was off to Ninjago. He fired on us too, just to really let it sink in. He was going to go and conquer Ninjago and restart the Serpentine Wars. I was ready to go after them alone just to try to slow them down.

We would have been trapped on that island if it wasn't for Zane. Zane showed up riding his own elemental dragon, just like the one that I had. When we'd been falling over the jungle, my dad told me the key to making a dragon was to control your fear. Zane realized that it wasn't the fear of Chen that held us back. It was the fear of who we were, and who we could become. I'd already fought past most of that fear while I was working out my everything on the Dark Island. Zane showed off his new Titanium Dragon, and then Kai showed up on his. Some may say that Kai doesn't do a lot for the team, I say he gets done what he has to get done.

As soon as we had that, we all moved to create our Elemental Dragons. We all flew together, all as one. Chen had told us that only one could remain, and now, we were united. Even my dad told me that we had done what the original alliance didn't and resist Chen's temptations. We were ready to go after them and completely take back Ninjago….

...Until we realized we left Dareth on the island. In all fairness, in the heat of the moment we didn't realize he hadn't been with us. We had to get the kabuki on the island too, since they seemed to be waiting for Chen to return without knowing what was happening. So, we lost about a day on Chen by the time we did that. We all flew back to Ninjago after that, even if it was a little embarrassing that we forgot one of our most important allies.

However, when we got back, Chen hadn't attacked yet. When we landed, we realized that Chen was holding back for some reason. When my dad and Skylar showed that they were steadily turning back into humans, we realized the spell was wearing off. We had to do something to stop them. Of course, the first thing we had to do was get my dad and Skylar off the streets. Everyone was afraid of Serpentine. I'm… not sure why. They'd literally been saved a few months ago by Skales helping lead the people underground while the Golden Master rampaged. Sometimes it feels like people just give the Serpentine the short end of the stick, you know? ...I know I'm saying that while we're getting to the start of the Second Serpentine War, but still.

Because of this, we realized that we had to go and find Pythor. After the Falcon had caught him during the Golden Master's defeat, we had taken him to Kryptarium Prison. I don't like that place, for a number of reasons. I know the obvious one is that my revived father beat me to near death there as a show of his power, but I just don't like the vibe of the place in general. It is ironically one of the most secure places in Ninjago, but even then, that's not saying much. We hurried there to see Pythor right away.

Seeing Pythor living in a dollhouse and calling his imaginary friend 'Rodrigo' was really funny. Honestly, it was just hilarious to see the once proud Serpentine acting like a doll. Of course, as soon as I asked for his help he went back to his normal arrogant self… which was _really_ hard to take seriously when his voice sounded like a squeaky toy. I still find myself laughing when I think about him in that state. Of course, we weren't there for fun, and we needed answers. Pythor must have felt the spell, since he knew about it before we even got there.

While we were talking to Pythor, that's when Chen and his followers attacked. Anacondrai are very good for stealth, even if their massive tails make that seem kinda, not like that. My dad, Wu and I grabbed Pythor and said he couldn't fall into the wrong hands. While he was shrieking in terror at being picked up, a drop of his sweat fell on my dad's arm and turned him back to a full snake. The spell apparently needed some of Pythor to make it permanent.

Just two of Chen's goons were already there to fight, and just them alone were enough for the other ninja to get overwhelmed with fighting them. Pythor told us they had no weakness, and as the ninja threw themselves at them, I think he was right. Just because something has no weakness doesn't mean they can't be beaten, but it does make the fight strong. As they got thrown left and right, that was when the Warden managed to lock the prison down.

We quickly ran our way through the prison's rapidly closing security features. While we were running and dodging all of the… actually kinda effective traps, Pythor told us something interesting. Chen had gotten the Serpentine Wars kicked off by telling the Anacondrai we were going to strike first. That meant they were forced to break off the truce agreements, afraid if they signed they'd look weak and open to attack. I guess Chen was just playing everyone from the beginning, which really puts the entire war and the Serpentine's actions into perspective. Especially since the Anacondrai were all… you know.

When we got out into the courtyard, Chen had already mobilized all of his snakes to come and get Pythor from us. Without thinking, I used Spinjitzu to attack them, which actually worked. I dropped Pythor in the middle of it. In all fairness, I don't normally hold a weapon because of balance, so I must have opened my hand without thinking. And because of that, I didn't realize that Pythor was gone until we were all rapidly working hard to get him back. The Anacondrai were fierce and the three of us were almost completely overwhelmed. Multiple times, I was almost cut in half by their way too sharp blades.

In the end, though, the ninja got out by breaking the walls of the prison down and in the distractio the snakes took Pythor. Realizing this, we had to make the choice to go back to the Samurai X Cave. The thing was, as soon as we got there, it was already the next day given the travel time and the fact we had to rest. Chen was able to use that time to force Pythor to… according to what he said, outrun a rat on a wheel to produce more sweat. I'll add to another casual murder attempt by Chen, since he apparently just left Pythor there being chased by a murderous rat.

That was when we saw that Chen had mobilized all of his noodle trucks and was driving them out to attack Ninjago all at once. We all thought that Chen had loaded his Anacondrai up onto them, and was planning on moving them into the city. Since we were out of position, we had the other elemental masters go to intercept them. We were getting ready to go and back them up… right before all the trucks split up.

I realized right away Chen was going to divide us. He knew he could win with all of us together. But he could win if he was fighting one on one. Still… we didn't have a choice. I gave the order for us all to split up. We each took one of the trucks and flew off to random points in Ninjago to try and stop them. We had to stop him. Chen was going to attack Ninjago, after all! I ended up flying towards Jamanikai Village, which always seems to be the first place people love attacking. I drove the truck away and even stopped to apologize to a kid for breaking a bridge he was playing near to do it.

We all were completely focused on our chases. We were just trying to stop them, but the drivers were crazy. They all had their trucks supped up to withstand almost all of our full elemental blasts. When I finally stopped mine, I was near the top of one of the mountain chains that my dad and I have summited. That was when I threw the doors open to get ready to fight, only to see it was empty.

Chen had divided us again. He led all of his troops to start a sweep campaign, now that we were all scattered. As soon as I heard that news and realized what happened, I was struck with guilt and fear. I'd been the one to give the order for us to split up, and now… now Ninjago was under attack. I was so terrified, I couldn't form my dragon. The comms cut out too due to how far away I was. We were all too far away to save the people. Chen had tricked up.

The Second Serpentine Wars had begun.

* * *

"Hey, Cole," Lloyd lifted his head up from finishing the chapter, "Can I uh… give you a heads up?"

Cole, who had been leaning forward and enjoying Lloyd's retelling of events, blinked, "Uh… yeah, sure? What's up?"

"The uhm…. I've been talking about it for a little bit now, but… next chapter is when I have to deal with… that." Lloyd gripped his fist, "I have to talk about… about my dad again."

"Oh," Cole stated flatly, realizing what he was talking about, "And, are you gonna be okay?"

"That's what I'm saying," Lloyd rubbed his hands together, "Zane has handled it already, but just… don't, get upset with me if I start getting angry. I, have been trying to figure out how to talk about it, but… each time I practiced, I get angry."

"I understand," Cole nodded, "I'll make sure we get you working out right after. That's really good for helping relieve stress. I know you hear that all the time, but it's true. Nothing better than working out wanting to punch something by pumping weights. Though, I think tomorrow is actually leg day."

"I'm gonna be busy tomorrow," Lloyd smiled gently, "Jay, Kai and I all made another bet on the console Jay had to buy us. We're seeing how far we can go in Nindroids: Battle Revamped. I recently was able to beat the entire game in just four hours. I figured I could probably school Jay. Kai and I agreed to share the prize if we work together."

"Mind if I get in on that?" Cole smirked, "I know I don't get to game as much as you guys do, but I've been getting in more time lately. I'm pretty good at that game."

"You wanna help us win?" Lloyd asked.

"Nah," Cole grinned, "Imma win against all three of you!"

"The winner makes the losers all buy him a game of his choice," Lloyd pointed out, "You sure you're up for that?"

"Actually, I don't think I'll win," Cole shrugged, "I just wanna have fun with you guys. Plus, after how badly you two beat Jay just to get that thing… I'm pretty sure he'll be gunning for you. I wanna see how he does."

"Heh, sure…" Lloyd sighed, "Sure thing, Cole. We'd love to have you join us. We asked Nya, but she doesn't play that game. And Zane… well, he can do frame-perfect inputs."

"I gotcha," Cole sighed, "Come on, let's get to our workout sesh. Gotta keep it up, you know?"

"We do," Lloyd smiled, "We really do. Let's do it."


	22. What Destiny Took From Me

I want to start off this chapter with something I realized I haven't mentioned before now: Chen would have absolutely won if he hadn't taken Puffy Potstickers off his menu.

Let me explain. When Chen took those off his menu, he made one customer very upset: Dareth. Yes, this is another reason why Dareth is such an important ally to me and someone I have a ton of respect for. Dareth not getting his Puffy Potstickers meant that he went after the noodle trucks to try to talk to Chen to get them put back on. In doing so, he found Nya with her DBX disguised as one and forced her to take him along. If Dareth hadn't been on that island, then a lot of things wouldn't have been able to happen.

First, Dareth was the one that disguised Nya and created her entire kabuki outfit. If she hadn't had that disguise, she wouldn't have been able to get the spell. We weren't able to get up there ourselves since Clouse was guarding it. If we made a move, we'd get caught and be turned into snake food most likely. Now, I know that I also said that Nya was caught. However, it was around the time that Dareth accidently alerted the entire island to his presence by singing. That sounds like a really dumb thing to do, but it actually worked out. Like I said before, most of Chen's guards were now out in the jungle looking for him. When Nya got caught, she only had to fight past Clouse. Without the heat on her, she was able to get to her stored Samurai X gear and go on the run.

Now, us being in the jungle was actually a massive blessing, when I look back on it. If Nya hadn't been out there, Chen might have just continued the tournament. Even if Jay hadn't broken his leg, Chen would have likely forced one of us to go up against each other again. We would have battled more in his tournament and whittled down our numbers even more. Even if that hadn't happened, we would likely have gotten taken out in some other way. Being in the jungle let everyone see Chen's real nature without us having to convince them again. Chen gave us the best possible way to form our alliance right then and there.

And even on top of all of that, Dareth being there was what made Zane and Cole rethink their plan and build the Roto Jet instead. If they hadn't done that, as odd as it was being built underground still, Clouse's giant snake -which I still don't know where he got it from- would have eaten my father. Even after Dareth was caught, he was still helping us.

Dareth being there was what got us to the point we were able to get our powers back in the first place. Even if Chen got his followers turned into snakes anyways, we were all able to be united. Chen lost the entire war the second that he took Puffy Potstickers off the menu. It's the strangest reason ever for someone to lose a war, but I still want to give Dareth another massive shout out here. Don't let anybody tell you that he isn't just as important as any of the rest of us.

I wanted to get that out of the way, before I decided to talk about the war. Dad told me that it's always good to talk about something good before you talk about something bad. And what happened next… wasn't good at all. It's the reason that he isn't here to tell me these words of wisdom himself.

It's the reason that my dad isn't here anymore.

….

Sometimes I wish I could just let Ninjago fall.

….

It was that day, that made me think maybe Morro had a point.

When I think about that day… I can't help it. I get angry. I get angry that I was the one that had to sacrifice something to win that battle. I get angry that the only way we figured out how to win that battle, was to sacrifice the one thing that I held closest to my heart. I had to sacrifice the one person… the one father that I was given as a reward for my efforts. I beat the ultimate incarnation of darkness, and for my sacrifice in having to overcome my fear of killing my dad, I was given the father I always wanted. And then Chen took it away.

Nobody else had to sacrifice anything to save Ninjago that day. Last time, I had to give up Zane. I had to watch Zane go and die for me because I wasn't strong enough. I'd worked hard to get stronger. I'd grown to become the ninja that Ninjago wanted me to be. And all that time, all while I was working hard, I had my dad by my side. I had the one person I wanted the most with me. And he wasn't like Wu, just telling me vague nonsense and letting me figure it out. He was with me every single step of that island. He was right there, fighting alongside me. He kept me safe as he possibly could, and told me everyday how much he loved me.

He loved me, and I loved him. And I had to banish him. I had to send the one father that loved me and wanted the most for me, off to the Cursed Realm.

It doesn't matter that I got to see him again when Morro stranded me there in the battle at Stiix. It doesn't matter that I got a chance to know that he didn't have any regrets. It doesn't matter. Because he was gone. He was out of my life. He wasn't there anymore. I couldn't wake up anymore and think that I could go and see him and ask him if everything was okay. I couldn't have a Sensei that would work to teach me everything he knew and make me a better man. I couldn't go and see the father that I'd given up everything for just to pat me on the head and tell me that I was doing good. I had to give it up. For Ninjago.

...Why me? Why am I the one that has to do that? Why was it that I have to make the sacrifice to make sure I stopped Chen? Why did destiny decide to give me something I needed more than anything else at that moment after I'd just beaten the Overlord, just to rip it away? Why do I have to blindly follow destiny, when it feels like everything that I like, everything I care about, just gets ripped away from me? Why do I have to put Ninjago's safety ahead of myself, when I have to get rid of everything that I care about to do that!

It isn't just him. It isn't him at all. Harumi did it too. The one girl that I actually felt like I could have something with was playing me the entire time. She stabbed me in the back and twisted the wound. And just to make sure that I feel it each and everyday, she made sure to bring my dad back. She ripped out every single piece of him that I loved and brought back the monster that I always worried he was before he climbed out of that rubble. She brought back that… that thing, and tried to taint the memory I had of my dad.

Emperor Garmadon is not my father. I may call him my dad, but that's only because I have to. I don't have another way to refer to him. I just don't. That man threw a picture of me and my actual father, the one that went with me to Chen's Island, on the ground. He stomped over that picture. And even then, when he decided to try to help us at the last minute, he still abandoned me. I haven't seen him ever since those Oni were beaten back. I don't get to have a father in my life. Not even one that tries to kill me.

I don't get it. I just don't get it. Morro was able to go and defy his own destiny. He decided to come back out of spite. Why don't I get to decide something like that? Not something evil like that, but why don't I get to keep my father? Why does every other boy in Ninjago get to be raised by loving parents that don't abandon them and leave for years of your life and drop them off at a school to be evil just to satisfy their desire to live up to their day? Why didn't I get to have more than a few months with my father? Why? Why? WHY?!

When my dad told me what happened, I couldn't even process it. I didn't want to even think about it. I didn't care that my dad was a snake. There was still so much he could have taught me! He could have still shown me more things I needed to know. Who was going to teach me? Wu? Ever since we defeated the Oni, all he's done is be grumpy and angry and act like we're just below his standards. My mother? She still disappears for months. The only family that was willing to be there to teach me and love me at the same time, to be willing to learn how to train me, was my father. The one man that taught me things I needed to know about myself, and he's gone now. Because I had to give him up.

Why does Chen get to be the one that took this from me? This man that I never even met before and had no powers, no influence other than his own mind and stupid wealth, he somehow got on an island he was supposed to be exiled on, why did he get to rip away the most from me? Forget the Overlord, forget the Golden Master, forget all of them! Not even Harumi got to take away that much from me. She took my heart, but that was it. Chen took my heart, and my family. He took away the one thing I never got to have!

Jay gets to go home and talk to his dad. He even gets pep talks for him sometimes. Kai and Nya got to find their parents, even if they just vanished after we met them! Even Zane got to meet with his father and gets to keep a crystal clear collection of every memory that he has with him. And even then, he gets to have Pixal. He gets to have someone that's made for him, and the two get to be happy. I don't get that. I have to be satisfied with being 'good' and putting 'the good of Ninjago' ahead of myself. I have to stand up as this, this paragon, and never let it show how much I hate how much this stupid plcae takes away from me!

And it isn't like Ninjago has done that much for me! You know what happens when we go into the city? People act like we don't save it1 They're so quick to just say that, that they're… that someone else saved it! They barely even remember Chen! The only reason that I ever get to have any sort of public recognition lately is because that revived monster beat the crap out of me in front of everyone. Most of the time, we don't even have income. We just make money where we can. We have to work jobs, even if this entire place wouldn't exist unless we kept putting ourselves out there to save them! And even then, they're ungrateful, they don't care how much I lost, they don't care that I, as the Green Ninja, have to live each and everyday with a hole in my heart because I got rid of the one person that I needed in my life most.

I wish I could just let this place go. I wish I could have just walked up to Chen and joined him. Negotiated that everyone else get to go free if I did that. I've thought about it, the idea of if I'd just given up that day. If I had just let myself stop being that Green Ninja Chen mocked me as. If I could have saved my father, if I could have just gotten to keep him. I wonder if I could just be like Morro and say that I don't care anymore, and just get what I want. I wonder if I can just forget that this entire place exists, and move on. Let this entire island burn. If I can just hold onto one thing, one little good thing in my life, maybe then I can just forget destiny and just go and finally, finally be happy.

...But I won't do that. I won't do that. Even if I wake up everyday and feel that my father is gone again, even if I know that one day, I'm going to keep defending Ninjago. I'm going to keep being the Green Ninja. I've come too far to try to change destiny. I've come too far in this to try to turn around. Everyone thinks about getting out just do what they want. I do it a bit more than maybe I should. But I won't let those thoughts get the better of me, because of people like Chen and Morro. Looking at them, I can see dark reflections of what I could become. If I just cared about power, I could become someone like Chen and just take power for myself. If I let myself get bitter about everything, I could end up not caring who I hurt like Morro.

Destiny took something from me again. First, it took away the family that I wanted the most for years. It forced on me a mother that wasn't there to tell me she cared about me and an Uncle that pushed me to murder my father because 'destiny' said I had to. When I put aside myself, when I stopped thinking about what _I _wanted and thought about what Ninjago needed, I was rewarded by being given the father that I needed the most. Sensei Garmadon was always there for me. Then, he was gone, again.

I know, that was probably a lot to take in. I know that in writing this Autobiography, you all think you're going to hear the heroic tales of the Green Ninja and how he valiantly saved Ninjago. A lot of you probably weren't expecting me to say that I have thought about just giving up on Ninjago before. But like I said in the prologue, I'm not some perfect savior that everyone wants me to be. I try to be, but at the end of the day, I'm just a normal person that was given powers because of destiny. I work to save Ninjago because I have to. I'm the only one that can stand up and do it. And because that's what's right, I'll do it again. Even if it means that I lose everything again.

And speaking of doing what's right, I should get back to where I was in the story. Chen's army swept over Ninjago like as torm. We didn't really get a chance to fight back. We were all so scattered, and almost all of us couldn't make our dragons out of fear. I had to take the truck that I had taken from Chen just to get back. It was a humiliating ride back. On the way, I ran into Neuro, who said that he would send a message to me to get to everyone else since Chen took control of all our comms. I guess that was why I couldn't get to Nya. Thankfully, we got to everyone and we regrouped.

Just in the few hours that it took us all to get there, Chen had taken almost all of eastern Ninjago. It was true when they said that an Anacondrai was the ultimate warrior. We were out of options. We had to rethink our strategy. Without anywhere clear cut to fight, we realized that Chen was heading inland now. If we could cut him off before he got to the heart of Ninjago, we could win. To that end, we decided to pick the Corridor of Elders to make our stand. Chen had to pass through that area in his most direct route, and he wouldn't be expecting us that early. We just had to go and make our stand.

The thing was, in the time it took me to get there, Chen had done his damage. My dad hadn't gotten the chance to make good on the promise we made in the jungle to tell Misako. He'd tried to, but gotten stopped. Chen decided to move in and fake making a truce just to drop that bombshell about the letter. While we were at our lowest point, he moved in and snapped the bond between Wu and my dad. Chen wanted to break all the bonds we had. I at least thank my mom for not piling that onto my dad at the time. At least she knew when to have her priorities in order.

A few of you reading this may have been there. It's hard to describe the battle. I wasn't focusing much on it at the time. We all went around Ninjago and recruited almost anyone that was willing to help us. We had a sizable number of people, and lowered our sizes from 1 to 62.4 (thanks Zane) down to 1 to 20. It was a lot better, but we were still in a bad spot. We made our stand, and waited. We didn't have to wait that long until Chen's massive army was coming right towards us, swords raised and ready to kill us all.

I made a line in the sand, literally. We couldn't let them get past that line. That was where the corridor was the narrowest, and we had a chance of winning. Chen saw us and got angry, and threw his entire army at us. He didn't need a strategy, he knew his warriors were strong enough. And to be fair, they were. Just that first wave hitting us nearly broke through us, but we held firm. Everyone fought as hard as they could. The entire place was kicking up dust, so we had to just focus on the snake in front of us. At first, we managed to push them back.

Chen, however, was angry. He sent them right back at us, then took to the skies. We didn't have any aerial support yet until Shade and Nya came in to help us. Chen literally blasted the corridor open just to let his snakes through. While we were able to hold the line, we didn't have the manpower to do it for the new gaps. The battle wasn't even ten minutes in, and now Chen had completely taken it from us.

The situation was turning hopeless fast. I wish I could say more about the battle, but it was just so fast and violent, I didn't process much of it until I heard someone screaming at me. Pythor came in riding on a rat with the book of spells. I have to commend him for literally racing across Ninjago to do that. While I still hate his guts for all he's pulled, he does have a sense of pride, and the fact that the Anacondrai were moving in on _his_ tribe was enough to make him help us.

I helped get Pythor up to the Bounty overhead. When we got to the top, that was when Pythor showed me the spell. We could summon the spirits of the old Anacondrai Generals my dad had banished to the Cursed Realm, in exchange for my dad taking their place. Pythor insisted they would be appalled at this 'mockery' to their race and curse Chen and his army away for trying to imitate them. I… have already talked about how angry I was at the time. My dad was the one that demanded that we use the spell, and I leapt off the Bounty to go and take out my anger. I didn't want to be there when my dad was giving himself up.

However, as I was tearing through the army, I felt all those memories about the time together we shared. I realized as I was blasting through snake after snake that, I needed to be there. Wu was the one that was made to read the spell. It wasn't a good idea for him to be te one to send him off. I realized that I meant the most to him, more than his brother or his wife. I was the one that he cared enough about to defy the literal embodiment of evil and the venom inside of him to try to raise me, even if it meant leaving me. And I had to be the one to do it.

So I did. I took the book from Wu and told my dad I would do it. Each word on that page felt like I was coughing up vile. My dad was trapped in a portal, and every word was making it open wider. I didn't want to read it. I hated it. I still refuse to remember even a single word of that spell. But I did. I read each, and every word. I gave up my father. I cursed him and banished him to bring back the generals that we thought could end that war. And… he said it.

"I had yearned to create the world in my image, I never realized I already had in you."

…

…

…

Sorry. I needed, needed a second there. I'm sure, Zane will edit this out after I get done.

Thank you, dad.

Thank you, for everything.

Thank you for doing everything you could to save me. Thank you for literally defying evil itself to rescue me. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you, as both my Sensei, and my father. Thank you for… for loving me.

Thank you for never giving up on me. Even when I felt like I had given up on myself.

And… I finished the spell. I sent my dad right into the Cursed Realm. With a big burst of green energy, the spirits of the generals came ould. Just like Pythor said, they immediately moved and began to curse everyone that was an Anacondrai, dragging them into the Cursed Realm. Skylar thankfully had turned back by then. And General Arcturus personally thanked me for my service, and for helping out finally right the wrongs that had caused the first war. He… thanked me for that.

As soon as that portal closed, it was over. I… I felt it. I felt that emptiness inside of me. I realized what I'd just done. The battle was won, but I'd lost something again. This time, it wasn't like the pain of losing Zane though. I'd done this myself, at my father's blessing. It was a dull ache inside me, that I couldn't get rid of. I felt sick, and wanted to go and lay down. I couldn't, since I had to be there to help the others as the battlefield quieted down.

In the honor of my father, we carved Sensei Garmadon into the corridor to remind everyone of his sacrifice. To ensure that we didn't have something like this happen again, we burned the book of spells that Clouse had. We honored my father's memory that night. The ache never went away the entire time. I couldn't stop thinking about him, or about the things that we had all given up to be able to reach that victory. I'd saved Ninjago, and that made me happy. But I had also lost my father, even if everyone felt for me.

That was when Kai offered Skylar a place on our team. I mentioned before how she decided to instead run the noodle shop. I'm still not entirely sure why, since Skylar was the one with arguably the most power out of anyone. But for some reason, she decided that was her destiny. I had to respect it, since obviously it was her life to live. I wonder what it would be like to have her on the team, but I understand her choice. She wanted to help right the wrongs of her father. I'm… still not sure why she and Kai never got together. Even I could see they were both into each other, but decided not to. I guess that's her choice, and I won't question it.

After that batte, I felt like I had finally ended the battles I needed to fight. This was the first battle we'd fought not connected to some destiny, something that had happened before… anything like that. I had overcome what felt like the last bit of my past I hadn't yet hit. I'd gotten all the questions I had answered. I was the Green Ninja. I know it wasn't final, and perhaps it never will be. But I felt like maybe, just maybe, I could try to move on… even without him.

For those months I didn't have my father with me, I didn't dream. I couldn't bring myself to. I couldn't sleep well either. I'd just keep seeing his face when I banished him, and hearing his last words to me in my head. They made me smile, but they stung too. I didn't want to be hurt like that again. That ache, wouldn't go away. That pain inside me refused to subside. It took far too long for me to heal from it, and it was there for a long while to come.

It was that very pain that let Morro inside my head. When my dad had me open the portal, we hadn't seen Morro slip out. A brand new plan was put into motion, and none of us knew what was going to happen next. I especially knew nothing about what Morro was about to use that pain that wouldn't go away for.

I was about to learn what it was like to be taken out of the picture completely. It was about time… for Possession.

* * *

"Lloyd…?" Cole asked nervously, "Are… you done there?"

Lloyd looked around the room. The area around where his hands were pointed was smoking. There were charred pieces of where he'd clearly gone and blasted his power out while he was speaking. Cole himself was still sitting calmly, but looked ready to bolt up at any moment. Lloyd realized he was crying again. He quickly reached up and cleaned his face, taking in a deep breath. His breath stuttered as he did, and he didn't even realize the lump he had in his throat until he had. And once he felt it, he realized that he had been crying and yelling loudly enough to hurt his throat.

"Y-Yeah… yeah, I'm okay, Cole," Lloyd sniffed, rubbing his cheeks to make sure he got it all up, "I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so into it."

"I was kinda afraid you were about to blast a hole in the wall," Cole chuckled nervously, "You… really, feel that upset about your dad?"

"Well… yeah," Lloyd sighed, "I, did try to warn you. Ever since this whole thing with Harumi and the Oni and… all that stuff, I can't stop thinking about it. I was worried about getting to this point. There are a lot of points that I tend to get angry and… these were where it gets the worst."

"Well… it's okay, you know?" Cole offered, gently leaning forward to put his hand on Lloyd's arm, "You've grown past it. I know it isn't much coming from me, but-"

"Cole," Lloyd cut him off, "Anything any of you say means a lot to me."

"...It, it's going to be okay," Cole sighed, "We all learn how to get past things. We all have to do some painful things sometimes, to get what we want. And, well… I don't know what it's like to get rid of my dad, but I know what it's like to be angry and apart from him for a long time. I can't really say that we're comparable, but… I get it, you know?"

"I do know," Lloyd smiled gently, "And… that's why I wanted you to be the one to do this part of my book with me."

"Not because I wouldn't say anything?" Cole joked nervously.

"Well, that," Lloyd sighed, "And, I know that you wouldn't judge me for being honest with myself."

"I… oh," Cole blinked, realizing what Lloyd was saying, "I'm… well, of course I wouldn't. I prefer that all of you guys be yourselves rather than it. And… well, you need to be sure you can be true to who you are."

"That's a little strange coming from you," Lloyd chuckled, "But yeah, I know what you mean. I'm glad. Thank you for doing this with me, Cole."

"Honestly… thank you, Lloyd," Cole leaned in, "I… get what you mean by saying you wanted to share this with us. I feel like I get you a little more now. I'm really glad you let me do this."

"I'll ask you to do this again when we do the whole Day of the Departed thing," Lloyd quickly added, "But, yeah. Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"Hey, I'm the one that's thanking you!" Cole protested, "So… uhm, you wanna go do the weights next?"

"Heck yeah," Lloyd stood up, "Let's do this!"

The two ninja made their way out of the room, deciding to leave explanations for later. As they walked, Lloyd looked at Cole. he really did feel like he'd gotten a bit closer to him now. Perhaps he'd get to feel this way after doing this with all of his team?

"By the way," Cole asked, "Who are you thinking of doing that next bit with, since you, you know, said you'd do them all with others?"

"Well…" Lloyd started, then was cut off.

"Heeeyyy, what's up my dudes?" Kai called out as he stepped in the hallway, "I was just working on pumping iron. Gotta keep the fiya going strong!"

Lloyd gave Kai a look, then he gave Cole a grin, "...I had to let him in on this at some point."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all my Autobiography of a Legend readers. I wanted to confirm that, indeed, I am going on hiatus for the time being.
> 
> While I have been writing in other stories that I plan to post eventually, writing the Season 5 chapters for this story has stumped me. It's a struggle in my head between how much I take from canon and how much I'm willing to add. I've always wanted this to be canon adjacent, sort of a look back of previous events and contextualizing them as the series has gone on. I've attempted to plan the chapters out, but each time I run into an issue of how much to put in. That being said, I am still actively working on them, even if they are still in the planning phase.
> 
> As usual, I would like to ask anyone that has started reading this fic, but hasn't checked out Enter the Ninjaverse, to please do so! If you enjoy anything having to do with AUs or action heavy fics, I would like to ask you give the first chapter a read! I also would like to like to ask you to check out my one-shot of Skylar in Number One Crime: Copyright Infringement. For those of you that wondered how Skylar reacted to the Mechanic using one of her father's trucks… have fun!
> 
> Otherwise, thank you all for reading this long, and I'll do my best to keep you all updated as time goes on! Thank you all again! Ninja-GO!


	23. The Day I Met a Ghost

Now, of everything that's happened in Ninjago, Morro's attempt to curse it is the one that I know you all are familiar with. Normally, the people of Ninjago seem to forget about all the dangers they face as soon as they're over. Chen literally took over most of Ninjago, but I know a lot of kids that don't even know Chen's name. The Overlord I think most people don't remember due to me kinda purifying everything at the end. Ninjago City especially seems to just move on after each disaster and just forget about everything that's happened afterwards. I guess that's how you have to be to live in a town that gets attacked at least once a year.

At first, I wasn't sure why everybody remembered Morro's invasion. It was probably one of the shortest ones. He attacked the city of Stiix, and we stopped him. Specifically, Nya stopped him. I guess it has something to do with the fact so much of Stiix was destroyed that it was all over the news. The Preeminent used all of Stiix's buildings to create a way for it to chase us in the ocean. Almost every house was actually ripped apart by it's rampage. The news ran with that, and I also know that many horror films used the images of the Preeminent for a lot of weird monsters. For some reason, what happened in Stixx is something that all of Ninjago just… remembers.

A few chapters ago, I called Chen one of my most personal villains. I still stand by that. Chen hit me home in ways that made me question my very existence. He made me ask myself how easily destiny could be manipulated to produce someone that did the things I did. It made me question my father and have to address sides of him that I had always thought was just there when he was Lord Garmadon. Most of you know, however, that Morro was possessing me for a long time. Why I didn't name Morro my post personal villains simple:

Morro is someone that I have never been able to think about the way I think about any other villain, even Harumi and Chen. Morro is on another level compared to everyone else that I've fought.

In the prologue, I said that sometimes I thought that Morro had a point. Specifically, when Morro was talking about how destiny works. Morro has made me think about what it means to be the Green Ninja. He made me question who I was as a person in a different way then Chen did. Chen made me ask why I was even in this world. Morro… Morro forced me to ask if who I became was someone that was meant to be the way I was. Even now, the things that Morro said to me still haunt me. They still hang in my head and make me wonder if I've ever done the right thing.

One thing I need to get out of the way right now, is that my recollection of events for this part of the story is going to be foggy. You'll see what I mean when I talk about what it was like to be possessed, but a lot of what I'll be talking about, I was only getting little bits of flashes of. I didn't know what was happening to me most of the time. That was deliberate on Morro's part. Morro knew that if I was able to see what was happening, I'd try to influence what was happening. The only times that I managed to do that always followed with Morro forcing me further down inside my own head. I know that some of the events I recounted in the previous chapters were somewhat rapid-fire and didn't have that much detail in them. With everything leading up to the Corridor of Elders, it was because it happened so fast I didn't have much time to think. With all of this… I literally didn't have the chance to know what was going on enough to think.

What most of you all know about this story is that Morro opened a gateway to the Cursed Realm and brought the manifestation of the Cursed Realm, the Preeminent, into Ninjago near the city of Stiix and completely destroyed the city before a massive tidal wave took it down. The path to getting there, however, was a lot more complicated. Now that I've had time to think, I know what I'm going to say. So, I want to go ahead and start from the beginning.

In the months after what happened with Chen, I knew that I couldn't stop and let myself look sad and upset. I'd already berated the ninja for doing that when they lost Zane. I threw myself into being the best team leader that I could, for the sake of my father. I knew that my dad wouldn't want me to stop being a ninja. My father had taught me that I could move on and become something great, no matter what happened. So, that's what I did. I worked on being the best Green Ninja I could be.

I know that I talked about how angry and withdrawn I got when Zane sacrificed himself. When I finally returned to the Monastery my dad built after what happened with Chen, I thought that I'd do the same thing. I wanted to, actually. I wanted to go and curl up inside of my room and get angry again. I even went as far as to actually tell my mom that I might do it, and to come and get me if I did. The night that I got there, I went up to the room I stayed in, sat down on the bed and waited for it to happen.

It didn't. I didn't get angry or trash the room. I didn't stop eating, I didn't yell at my mother, or even at myself. I was angry at myself, but I wasn't able to bring myself to do anything. Each time that I felt myself ready to lash out, something stopped me. I kept waiting for it to happen. I kept just, getting ready to blow up. I never did. No matter how long I waited, I never did anything. And, the more that happened, the more I started to get more upset than angry.

I'd cried for weeks when Zane was gone. I'd been so devastated that I made my parents worry that I was going to break down completely. Now I'd lost my father and I couldn't even bring myself to get angry. That wasn't to say I wasn't crying. I was crying a lot. Whenever a memory of him started to surface, I couldn't help but cry. But I wasn't getting upset with anyone or anything. I wasn't cursing myself, or cursing Chen or anything. I was just… upset. I almost managed to get myself mad enough by asking if I was a bad son for not crying. I wanted to be angry, but I was just sad.

I think the reason why is because this time I was the one that did it. With Zane, it'd been so sudden and therefore devastating to me because of that. With my father, he'd looked me in the eyes while I read out the rest of the spell. My dad had asked for it. While he was gone, I had some closure with it. If Wu had just read out the rest of the spell and that'd been it, then I don't think that I'd have been able to force myself to work past it so quickly. But, knowing that my dad wanted me to do it… knowing that he was proud of me, and that his last words had told me that, was enough to get me going.

None of the ninja asked me to get back to helping the people. Wu didn't even ask me either. I was the one that came back to them. I took about a week to get to a state I could start helping people in again. I wasn't completely okay, and I think they noticed that. But I wouldn't give up on my duties to Ninjago. The ninja had disbanded the last time I wasn't there to keep them together. Even if I had to get back to it quickly, I couldn't let them go it alone again.

Without a big massive threat to Ninjago, I suggested that we instead start roaming the villages across Ninjago and seeing what we could do to help them. We'd spent so much time in Ninjago City that I was beginning to worry about the places that had been hit when Chen started his invasion. The others were a little confused by it at first, but after we showed up to see Jamankai Village worse for wear, they started to see what I meant.

In the meanwhile, Wu, after everything that had happened, said that his emotional outburst at his brother told him it was time for him to finally retire from being a Sensei. Wu and Misako pulled together their money -which I don't know where they got it from- and designed a tea shop called Steep Wisdom. I was always a little confused at that. It reminded me of when Wu opened that School of his, and then promptly forgot about it. I guess a tea shop is a better investment, but it was a big one. It's also really weird to think about now, since Wu ended up selling it not that long after he actually opened it. It really made the entire shop feel kinda pointless.

I never had anything against the tea shop, but I never really liked it. I'm not the biggest fan of tea. I like it, but it's not something I really want to drink all the time. I also didn't see how a shop like that could stay in business. If it was more like a cafe then, I guess I could see that working. But, a big shop that only sold tea? I guess that Wu had a lot of faith in it. The other ninja seemed to feel the same way I did, since we all forget about it a lot.

While Wu wanted us to help out in the shop, I insisted that we needed to help Ninjago first. We went around from village to village for a few months. It gave us time to really get good control over our new Elemental Dragon and train out powers. Moving around so much made it a little easier to work through everything I was feeling too. Whenever I got sad, I could always find some new task to go and do, or some place to go and explore. I knew a lot of the island from my tour from after the Overlord incident, so I was able to guide the ninja pretty well.

All of this started several months after Chen's entire plan. The ninja and I were off to help capture a mutant fangfish that was terrorizing some fishing villages. It was just a regular job. I just remember it being pretty huge, but outside of all of that, I don't remember much about the job in particular. The one thing that I do remember is something that would be important later. We'd gotten the fish captured and loaded into a tank to be sent off to a sanctuary of some kind, when I let slip to Kai that I still missed my father.

Kai said something to me that I would hold onto. He said that when his parents were gone, he had Nya to help watch over him and keep him on track. So, he said that he would watch over me. I thought it was just another little reassurance from Kai. Kai was just doing that to make me feel better, I thought. I didn't realize just how important it would be.

When we got back to the tea shop, Wu said that he had something for us to do. The shop had just recently opened for business, and the shop wasn't turning up customers. Personally, I think it was because Wu picked a location in the middle of nowhere. He wanted the five of us to go and drum up business by handing out flyers. I don't know when we agreed to be Wu's employees, and I didn't want to start working there. I had just agreed to help Wu, though, when my mom got off the phone with the police. It was pretty weird that my mom was willing to stay around in one place for so long, especially after hearing about how she'd fell in love with my dad. Then again… I've never been able to figure out what sort of relationship those two have.

I was being called to the Ninjago Museum of History. I didn't stop to think about how odd it was that someone had asked for me specifically. All I was thinking about was that I should get over there and help. I'd been helping Ninjago out, so it wasn't like this wasn't up my alley. I told my mom I'd give her a rain check on a kiss, and told everyone I'd be back to help them soon. I left without even thinking about what was going to happen to me. That was the last time that I saw them before it all happened.

The weird thing about this, is that my memory leading up to the moment that Morro attacked me is very clear. It's almost like my mind saved everything that I'd normally forget. I can remember the faces of the two cops that greeted me. I can remember the exact look of the night guard that wanted to talk to me. I can remember the time of day, the exact minute I walked into the museum, even the direction we took when the guard grabbed me. I remember that he looked tired. It wasn't tired in the way that you would get when you didn't sleep, but more like when you'd just worked out for a really long time. He was panting and shivering, his eyes were unfocused, and he was covering himself hard with the blanket he had over him.

The second I told him I was here to help, he grabbed me and dragged me back into a storage room in the museum. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I didn't protest. He felt strong, which was weird given how old he looked. The second we entered the room, he shut the doors too. I didn't know what to think until I saw the open crate. He told me that something had been stolen, specifically the Allied Armor of Azure. I had no idea what he was talking about. Something felt off about it all, though.

As I was looking in the box, I had the suspicious feeling something wasn't right. The room felt cold to me. The guard mentioned that the armor could be used to summon allies in times of need, most specifically from the Cursed Realm. That sparked a memory of the spell I'd read, and made me turn around to ask what the guard meant.

I narrowly avoided having the guard smash my head in with a hammer. Suddenly, that feeling of something being off had turned into nothing adding up. He was slow and I had no issues dodging him, but something about him all felt wrong. He was jerking about, and while he was shouting at me, I felt like he wasn't acting like a night guard. I didn't want to hurt him, so I toppled some boxes over him. I stunned him enough to try to talk to him, and that was when I saw something leaving his body.

The pain of being knocked down had weakened Morro's hold over the guard. He drifted up into a nearby painting, and that was when I heard his voice for the first time. He'd been speaking through the guard, but now I was hearing it for real. It was young, nothing like the villains that I'd faced so far. I don't know why I noticed that right away, but it stuck out to me. What stuck out to me more was the shadow that went into the painting I smashed drifting to a Serpentine statue nearby and using it to suddenly constrict me. The metal held me tightly, and seeing this statue moving like a real thing, and then talking to me… it was wrong.

Once he'd gotten me trapped, Morro possessed the sand that had fallen out of the crate to swirl around me and blind me with it. I think he was taunting me, showing me that I couldn't hurt a ghost even if he tried. It was in that cloud of sand I first saw him. I didn't see much, but I could see his eyes and head, floating among the sand in an unnatural way. I felt something prickling at me in a way that I hadn't before. It wasn't the feeling of the sand on my body… it was the feeling of something pressing inside my head.

I heard the security guard saying that he'd felt Morro's thoughts, and that the 'world would be cursed,' or something like that. In a panic, I told the guard to throw me the Allied Armor he still had on. With it in hand, I prepared to break it apart using my Green Power. The result was instead that Morro took the armor from me and let me go from the statue in order to stop me from doing that. When I got up from the ground, Morro was floating in the sand, the armor on him.

What Morro did next would change my life forever. I'd faced villains that wanted to kill me. I'd faced villains that wanted to hurt everyone around me. Morro, however, wanted something else. He didn't want to hurt me. He wanted _me_. I didn't know what he meant at first, but Morro's sandy form came flying straight towards me. Before I could summon my shield, his body had struck me, and then he was gone. The armor clattered to the floor, and for a few seconds, I didn't know what to expect.

My head started throbbing. The world around me started spinning. My throat felt like it closed off, and I had to force down air. I stumbled around, and remember tripping over the broken bit of box. I hit the floor, and started heaving. I felt my limbs starting to twitch and jerk on their own. I tried to move them, but each time I did I felt like they were getting heavier. My vision started to go hazy. I remember the room feeling dark, dark like the lights had been broken. The guard came over to see if he could help, and my arm jerked up on its own and smacked him into the wall. I tried to tell him to run, but nothing came out of my mouth. I tried to yell at him to run away again, but while my lips moved, my voice didn't work. Something was happening to me.

Then, I felt it. I felt a jab that went right into my brain. It didn't hurt, oddly. Instead, it felt like something was hammering down at me. Each time that I felt it, it was like all of the things happening to my body increased. I felt everything getting dimmer. My arms felt heavier. My breath was squeezed more out of my lungs. Each time that jab went down, it was a hammer that was pushing down on my mind. It was at that moment I realized what Morro was doing. Morro was trying to take over my body.

Have you ever been pushed under the water and held down? There's a certain point where you feel a big panic. It's this, white hot feeling in your chest that makes you suddenly realize that you have to get up and swim to the surface. You usually only feel that feeling when you're in a dangerous situation and realize that you might actually die from it. I don't know why we get that feeling, but whenever I've felt it before, it's been because I'm about to get hurt. I felt it when I faced down the Overlord on top of the Garmatron tower, and when the Golden Master had us all trapped in front of Borg Tower.

When Morro was forcing his way into my head, I felt that panic. I wasn't in pain. Being possessed doesn't feel like anything physically. You felt your body getting weaker, but those were just the symptoms. I can't fully think of how to describe it. It's like… it's like someone is taking your thoughts, your feelings, your personality, and pushing it down. They're forcing it down into your own head. The only thing I can think of like it, is when you space out when studying and then snap out of it to realize you've been sitting there for a long time. You aren't in control of yourself during that time. Somehow, you know when it's happening that if you stop fighting it, you won't be in control anymore. That triggered the panic inside of me, and let me fight him long enough to realize that something was very wrong.

When this was all happening, I started seeing memories flash through my head. At first, I had no idea what was going on. I was fighting so hard to keep whatever was happening out, that I at first ignored it. The memories all flashed by one by one, getting faster and faster. I realized that Morro was forcibly drawing out my memories. He was reading my memories for some reason. I was already feeling my body going numb at that point, so I wasn't thinking about it. I was just pushing back as hard as I could, without even feeling like I was pushing at all.

Then, Morro dredged up the memory of my dad. He pushed the image of my father being sent into the Cursed Realm while I read out the words right into my head. The second that I felt that, all of the emotions that I felt that day came back. I'd worked for weeks to work through all of them. I felt the anger of having my father taken away from me, the guilt over the time that I hadn't spent with him while he was alive, and the rage at myself for not finding a solution. I couldn't stop those feelings. I remember having it all being brought up inside my head, since that was the last thing I remembered feeling for a very long time.

I think when a ghost possesses someone, they look for a way in. Morro probed my memories to find something that he could use to break my concentration. Since he was drawing directly from my memories, I didn't have time to process the emotions that were attached to them. I remember feeling like I'd just opened my mouth underwater, and something was rushing inside. I let out one last scream before I felt my connection to my body snap, and then I was in darkness.

The entire time that I was possessed, it wasn't like I was asleep. In fact, I was awake for it the entire time. Morro didn't just block off my ability to move my own body, it was like he surrounded my mind with his own. When I opened my eyes, I was floating inside of something. I was surrounded by nothing. I was able to think, and I was able to talk and move around. No matter how much I moved, though, I didn't get anywhere. No matter how much I talked, I didn't make any sound. Nothing I did actually did what I thought it would.

I remember at first feeling terrified. I tried to run around and figure out what was going on. What I quickly came to realize, was that I wasn't anywhere. I wasn't trapped in some place I could escape from. I was literally trapped inside of my own mind, There was nowhere I could go, because I wasn't gone from anywhere. I was still inside my own body… just locked up in it.

Morro left me there for hours. I spent hours running around, trying to find my way out. I think it was hours, at least. It felt like it. I wasn't really 'running' since I wasn't actually going anywhere but I felt like I was. I had finally started to give up, when I felt my voice come back to me. I heard my words coming out of my mouth. That's when I saw someone walking towards me. When he got close enough for me to see him, I saw him for the first time. I saw what Morro looked like.

I don't think anyone ever saw what Morro looked like before he was a ghost. When Morro showed himself like that, he looked about as old as I was. He was wearing the first green gi I'd worn. He had the same face that he did as a ghost, only… kinder.. He didn't look evil to me. He looked like… a regular person. He looked like a ninja in training. I didn't know what to think of that.

Morro told me that since he was possessing me, it wasn't long before I'd start being able to read his thoughts. He was the one that called me here, and his goal all along had been to possess me. He needed a 'Spinjitzu Master' in order to complete his mission, and the first step of that was going to be taking Sensei Wu's staff from him. He was currently on his way to the tea shop he'd gotten from my memories. Apparently, as a ghost he could read each one of my memories whenever he wanted.

I asked Morro why he was doing that. He said that if I was smart, I could figure it out. I asked him why he was wearing my old outfit. When I phrased it like that, I saw him get angry. He told me that it was never mine to wear. I never deserved to wear it. I wanted to know more, but he told me that he had to tend to my friends. Before I could stop him, my voice was gone again.

I was back in the dark again. I didn't know what was happening. So many things were filling my head. Why was Morro doing this? He said I could read his thoughts, but I couldn't feel his thoughts or anything. I felt alone. I couldn't see anything. The only thing I'd been able to see was Morro, and he was gone. I was in the middle of a void. No matter what I did, I couldn't see anything. Nothing worked. Nothing… nothing was there for me to hold onto.

I was about to break down, when I heard Kai's words. I remembered him telling me that he'd look after me. For a moment, I thought that I was just thinking that. But, something was off about it. I heard it. It wasn't something I was thinking, I _heard_ it. As soon as I did, I felt something. I felt a rush of power in me. Morro had pushed me down in order to take control. Kai was out there. I don't know how I really knew it, but I felt that Kai was out there saying that to me.

Pushing back against Morro felt like pushing a car. If you don't push hard enough, nothing moves. When you finally feel the car moving forward, you can't stop pushing or else it'll roll back. When I was fighting Morro, I felt that exact feeling. Morro's mind was a blanket that was pushing my own down. I wanted to push him off. I didn't physically push anything. Instead, I focused my thoughts and willed myself to get back into control. I willed my body to become my own again. I was willing myself like I would to get out of bed, only now it was to take control of myself once more. I pushed against him as hard as I could, I felt him shift, just for one moment.

I opened my eyes and realized I was looking at the tea shop.

I only got a small glimpse. I saw that my body wasn't like I remembered it. I saw my clothing had turned dark and ratty. I was standing in the middle of the tea shop courtyard. The wind was howling around me. Kai was bending over me, holding onto me like he'd just shaken me back to my senses. I didn't know how I'd gotten there. I wasn't able to move my body. All I could do was look up to see Kai, and get out a single plea for help.

Then, Morro pushed me back down.

Just asking Kai for help had taken away my focus. When Morro pushed my mind back down, he didn't do it kindly. He pushed me down hard. My head felt like it was screaming in pain. My thoughts were as jumbled as if I'd just run into a wall. I don't know what had just happened, but when I was able to see again, Morro was sitting on top of me. He told me that I'd just done something very, very bad, and that I wasn't going to be doing that again for a long time.

Then, Morro was gone again. I had no idea what had just happened. Somehow, I'd broken free of his possession. For a few seconds, I'd pushed back against him. I tried to push again, but Morro wasn't budging. He'd turned from a brick wall, into an iron fortress. Just getting the light for those few seconds had taken everything out of me. I was left drifting in the void again, and couldn't do anything about it.

Morro was chasing down my friends. In the span of a few hours, my life had changed the day I met a ghost. I thought that was it, but I had no idea just how much more I was going to learn about myself through this possession.

* * *

"Kai," Lloyd sighed as soon as he finished talking.

"Huh?" Kai sat up, "What's up? You done?"

"Yeah, I'm done," Lloyd looked him up and down, "You… didn't say anything."

"What?" Kai cocked his head, "You told me not to!"

"I know, I just… expected for you to talk during it," Lloyd pointed out, "I was kinda planning on it, actually."

"Oh c'mon! You asked me to come and help you record this story thing! Do you really think that I'd interrupt you while you were doing your own thing?" Kai asked sarcastically.

"Uh…" Lloyd didn't want to answer that question, "I'm just, well, thank you. I… really am glad that you aren't going to make this difficult."

"Heh, you make it sound like you were planning one me messing this up," Kai chuckled. Lloyd didn't say anything, and instead he leaned back in the chair.

"So… what do you think about all this?" Lloyd asked, "I mean, I know you sat in on one chapter already but… I know that it took Cole a little bit to get used to this idea. The point of all of this is to just, get to say my side of the story, you know? Ninjago always sees me in one way and… I wanna show them the other side of me."

"I'm not really sure what I think yet," Kai admitted, "I mean, I've never been into things like this. I wasn't sure at first why you wanted to do it but, well, after hearing that one chapter I think I get it. If you wanna do something like that, I think you should."

"Really?" Lloyd perked up, "Thanks, Kai!"

"No problem," Kai smirked, "I said I was always looking out for you, and that's still true," He paused, "Hey, have you been working out? Don't think I haven't seen that muscle there."

"Oh… yeah, I've been doing sparring sessions with Zane and working out with Cole. Kinda my way of cooling down after some of these sessions," Lloyd rubbed his neck, "Is it that noticeable."

"Well yeah!" Kai pointed to his upper arm, "You're really starting to fill out that suit! Master Wu might have to get you a new one."

"Uh… heh, thanks," Lloyd smiled gently, "Well… I mean, you're welcome to join us."

"Nah, I don't really do strength training," Kai stood up, "You want to come get some grub, though? I know a good place we can get food for cheap!"

"Isn't Zane cooking dinner tonight?" Lloyd asked.

"You can get dinner with Zane any night," Kai smirked, extending his hand, "Come on, I'm hungry! You wanna cool down after all that, right? Trust me, you're gonna love this place."

"Uh… sure," Lloyd nodded his head, "Oh! Uh, before that, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Kai was already standing up, "What's up?"

"Do… you know what happened to that night guard?" Lloyd asked quietly, "I never saw him again, and I can't seem to find where he is."

Kai's body suddenly tensed up, "He… uh, I think the museum gave him time off after what happened?"

"Really?" Lloyd asked curiously, "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Kai grinned, "No need to look into it. Come on, let's go get dinner!"

"Sure," Lloyd smiled warmly. He quickly made his way out of the room, leaving behind the beginning of this difficult set of chapters. Kai gulped for a moment, then straightened himself up to put a smile back on his face before going after Lloyd himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Autobiography of a Legend continues! These were by far the hardest batch of chapters for me to write. I've come to a point that I'm happy with what I've written, but I also know that of all the seasons, this will be most "semicanon" in terms of representation. My goal was to take the approach of something that could happen and expand on it from there. Either way, I'm glad to have this going once more. 
> 
> I've also published a number of fics since then! If you want a high action chase story, I recommend my Enter the Ninjaverse fic. I've also done a one-shot called Number One Crime: Copyright Infringement, in which Skylor attempts to defeat the Mechanic due to him using her brand on his truck. Likewise, I've also started The Furthest Realm, a S12 fanfiction that explores what would happen if Akita asked Lloyd to stay in the Never Realm with her. If you have any interest in these, I would be grateful if you took a look at them! 
> 
> Thank you all for being so patient. Posting will be regular from now on through (hopefully) the end of the S7 chapters. Until then, I hope you enjoy! Ninja-GO!


	24. Morro, the Green Ninja

Many of you likely remember that I started this book by saying that sometimes I thought Morro had a point. That wasn't me just saying something shocking to get your attention. I needed to make clear what sort of book this was. Zane said that you have to establish tone in the first chapter. I know at the start of this, that was probably crazy to read. Now that you've read this far, I think that you all can understand a little more of why I would think that.

I've talked a lot about destiny in these chapters. It's something that's been a big part of my life ever since I was born. It was destiny that my father left to train under Chen and had me as a result. It was destiny that I would one day have to become the Green Ninja and defeat the Overlord. It was destiny that my father was betrayed by the Serpentine and then sent out into the Endless Sea to discover the Dark Island. In a way, it felt like destiny that I'd one day have to go and fight Morro like I did.

The thing is, I haven't really said what I thought destiny _is_ yet. Wu has defined it a lot of different ways. The others can't really give me a simple description of it. Every time I've gone to see what other people say about it, everyone just likes to philosophize about what it means. I've spent a lot of time thinking about destiny, probably more than I really should have. After all this time this is what I think it means:

Destiny is what you're meant to do. It's a sort of like a force that guides you to places that you have to get to. I don't mean physical places that you have to go. I mean things that have to happen. My father _had_ to find the Dark Island. I _had_ to be shown to be the Green Ninja. I _had_ to be born to my mother and father. If you can say that you _had_ to do something, that's destiny at work.

The thing is, I don't think destiny is in the little things. If you have to show up to work, that's not destiny. It's not destiny that I unleashed the Serpentine. It was destiny for me to be taken in by the ninja. I know that sounds weird to say. It's like, the way that you get to the things you have to do isn't destiny. My dad could have gone to the Dark Island a lot of different ways. He could have put more pressure on the Serpentine so they didn't betray them and instead found the island with them. Or, he could have gotten us to find it for him. I don't know how that would have happened, but that's the point! Destiny are these things that we just have to have happen.

There is one other way that I've really thought of describing it, and it's something that I actually overheard from Jay. When someone goes to remake a movie or game, they have to have a few things happen. You can change and redo a lot, but for it to still be the original game, you have to keep certain things the same. If you strip a game to a few things that have to happen, those points are what developers have to work around. Or, that's what I've heard. What I'm getting at here, is that if you strip away someone's life to the bare things that make them who they are, destiny is what makes sure that you get there.

Like, with me. I was born as Lord Garmadon's son. I was led to making way to bring my father back into Ninjago, and was taken in by the ninja. I was found to be the Green Ninja, prophesied to defeat the Overlord. My father found the Dark Island, and was possessed by the Overlord. That led me to having to defeat my father and the Overlord at the same time. These things, those exact things, are my destiny. It didn't have to be the Serpentine that I awakened. I didn't have to be put in danger to get my father to come back to Ninjago. I know that, some of what I've said so far is a little off compared to that, but it's true. If you were trying to make a game out of my life, as long as you hit those beats, you could change anything else between them and still have it be about me in the end. I know the video game analogy isn't the best, but I wanted to use it after hearing Jay talk to me about remakes and remasters and rereleases… which I still don't entirely get the difference between them all but, I don't play video games enough to get that. But, the reason that I wanted to get all of this down about destiny, was because it was something that Morro and I argued about until the very end of what happened.

After Morro pushed me back down from taking control, I didn't know what was going on with my body for a long time. Morro was able to read my thoughts and, while I was able to read Morro's thoughts, it was like watching a movie with the screen turned off. Just hearing what everyone was saying didn't give me enough of a picture to know what was going on. I got the feeling that we'd gone to some sort of bar, because I felt Morro's thoughts saying that he was going to summon one of his friends to help him out.

Each time that Morro summoned one of the ghosts from the Cursed Realm using the Allied Armor, I felt his control shake. Morro was using my body, meaning that he was drawing upon my physical strength and his mind in order to sustain the possession. Looking back on it, I think it says a lot about Morro that he was able to both keep me possessed, summon several ghosts that physically weakened him to do multiple times, and still fight and defeat the ninja at every turn. Morro was stronger than even I was. Even when Morro was weak, he still keet me suppressed.

After Morro had summoned some friend of his, he appeared to me again. When I saw him the second time, I realized he wasn't wearing exactly the green gi that I used to wear. Instead, it was a training shirt he'd styled to look like it. He had black hair with a single green strip I hadn't noticed at first. His pants were tan and scuffed up, torn in a few places too. The shirt he had on, too, was torn up when I saw it closer. I realized later that this wasn't just some random form that Morro was projecting to me. That was what Morro liked when he died.

Taking so much time trapped inside my head gave me a chance to start to figure out how to read Morro's thoughts. I realized that if I stopped and listened, I'd be able to hear what he was thinking. It wasn't always clear, sort of like listening to music through one of those really old radios. I was able to hear what he was thinking, though. I wondered if I was able to see into his memories, just like he'd seen into mine. It was the second that I tried to imagine those memories that he appeared in front of me again.

When Morro talked to me at first, I remember that he didn't look like a villain. In fact, he looked like one of my friends. He hardly ever looked angry. He didn't tense up or yell at me when I talked to him. When I demanded to know what someone like him wanted, he told me that he wanted to tell me a story. He said that the last time he talked to me like this, he'd been in the middle of something and been upset. Granted, I figured out he had been in the middle of fighting my friends, which meant even if he didn't seem like he was going to hurt me, I didn't trust him.

That was when Morro told me everything. I didn't know what to think. While he spoke, I saw that I looked like myself again. The area I was in transitioned from a black void to us standing on top of the stairs to the burned down Monastery of Spinjitzu. I remember Morro looking at the structure and looking upset. He asked me how it happened, and when I told him I didn't have to tell him, he didn't ask for me to clarify. Instead, he just told me that there were a lot more important things in that place then I knew, and I shouldn't have let it all go to waste. Knowing now how much that place meant to him, I wonder what it was like to see in my memories that I'd been the one to order the Serpentine to go and raid the place. He never did comment on that.

The Monastery rebuilt itself. I realized Morro was using his memories in order to show me what the Monastery used to look like. I'd never been there, since I'd sent Skales to go and carry out the operation. I got to see what the Monastery looked like before all of that. When I did, I was shocked. I'd always imagined it was far bigger than it was. Morro must have seen how shocked I was, since he told me that the Monastery wasn't all that it seemed. That was when I got to see exactly what happened to Morro… directly from his memories.

...I don't know what exactly I was supposed to think of all of that. I had never even thought of Wu having another pupil before me. The ninja got to learn about Morro's past from Wu, but I got to hear about his past from him directly. Morro told me absolutely everything. He told me about how his family orphaned him from a young age, and he ran away from his relatives after having a harsh life with them. He struck out with several other orphans, and they made a habit of roaming to remote places in Ninjago to steal food to survive. I learned the names, the faces, everything that Morro knew and felt about the boys that he ran away with. It wasn't that Morro was telling me everything, it was that he was letting me _feel_ everything too. Since I could read his thoughts and vice versa, he was able to show me whatever he wanted.

I got to see Morro when Wu first found him. Wu said that he felt it was destiny that the two of them met, and I got to feel the confusion Morro felt when Wu said that to him. Morro had never had a home like this before. Just seeing a room prepared for him without any questions asked, without having to pay for it to sneak in just to sleep, I felt the sheer overwhelming heartache that Morro felt seeing that. When Morro realized that Wu was serious about taking them in, I saw Morro, crying in the corner, trying not to let anyone see just how happy he really was at it for fear of looking weak.

I got to see the day that Morro made a kite fly using his own power of wind. He'd never seen a kite before. He didn't know what to think. Wu had just told him to let the wind carry it and hold on to it. Morro didn't know what he was doing. He let the kite go, and when it started to blow away, he'd gotten scared Wu would be mad at him for losing it. So he reached out to try to grab it. That was when his powers awoke. He managed to hold onto the kite using wind. That answered a few questions for me. Morro was the Master of Wind. That was the day that Wu asked Morro if he wanted to train to become a ninja.

Each day of training, I felt it. Each learned lesson, each victory, each defeat, I was able to see all of it. I don't know how long it actually took for Morro to show me, but it felt like I was living his entire life in front of him. I didn't know why Morro was showing me all of it. I didn't need to see how he felt when he finally mastered Wu's sword technique, or when he managed to defeat both of the boys he had traveled with in one swing. I didn't have to see the nights that Wu spent teaching him how to read, write and all of the lessons he would teach me. I didn't have to see it. I didn't want to see it. But the more that I saw, the more I realized what was happening.

Then… the day. Wu came to Morro one day and told him that he thought Morro could have a destiny. For some reason, I felt sick when I saw the memory. I felt sick watching Wu taking him to show him the very scroll that the ninja would find later. I felt sick when Wu let him see the Golden Weapons hanging on the wall. Something felt wrong. I could feel Morro's happiness and joy when Wu said he could be the Green Ninja that would one day save Ninjago. I should have felt Morro's joy and happiness.

But, I was the Green Ninja. I knew something was wrong. That was when Morro stopped showing me memories, and asked me if I understood. When I couldn't figure out what to say, Morro showed me even more. I asked him to stop. I didn't want to see anymore of this. I realized what was going on. Morro was showing me exactly how he felt. He was showing me how Wu built up his hope, gave him a new life, and let him become someone new. Morro wanted me to feel how he felt. I already knew the day was going to come that Morro found out he couldn't be the Green Ninja. I felt that it was coming. Maybe it was because I was feeling everything Morro felt leading up to it, but knowing that these happy memories would soon come to an end… it was like watching a movie where you know someone is going to die, and you don't want them to.

I watched Morro grow strong. I watched… I watched him fight harder and harder for Wu. Now that he could be the Green Ninja, he had to train more. He pushed the other students to fight harder. He had to live up to the prophecy. When Wu reprimanded him for being rough, I almost caught myself telling Wu that I had to be ready to face any task. Morro wanted me to see it. He wanted me to get it. Wu was telling him that he was pushing too hard. He was getting too aggressive. But, he had to get aggressive. He had to be that strong. Wu told him he needed to look more at himself before he was able to become something new. That didn't make sense. He had a new destiny. Wu had told him that he could become something new. What sense did it make for him to tell him to slow down?

I knew the day was coming. I didn't even have to have Morro preface the memory by telling me that the day was today. I knew from the moment Morro was walking down to the room he'd seen the Golden Weapons had been in, that was it. I had to watch this. I felt like crying. I was begging Morro not to show me this. Morro just told me I had to understand. He made him watch as the weapons refused to respond to him, like they had for me. Wu was there, holding up the green gi. He was holding the suit that I would put on. And for some reason, I couldn't think of that when I was watching it all happen. All I could think about was that I was watching Wu tearing down Morro's dreams.

Morro was in shock. Wu had told him for years that he could be the Green Ninja. He told him that he was growing stronger, saying one day Ninjago would rely on him to save it. He'd reprimanded Morro for training harder and seeing him as the Green Ninja. But, how couldn't he see himself that way? Wu had been the one to take him in, to give him a home. If someone like that told you that you could become the Green Ninja, why wouldn't you believe him? After all… I did.

And then… then I felt a spiral. I saw Morro racing out into the woods to fight dangerous creatures to try to prove he was strong enough to be the Green Ninja. Whenever Wu would save him, that had to be destiny. After all, why else would Wu always be there to save him? Wu had to be training him to be the Green Ninja. He had to be. He had to be. He…

That was when I finally stopped. I told Morro I couldn't take it anymore. Morro stopped showing me the memories, asking me if I understood. I couldn't even answer him at first. I had to just sit there and try to get these feelings out of my head. I'd experienced a lifetime of memories all at once like that. Morro had shown me everything that I needed to see. Morro had been promised the title of the Green Ninja, and Wu had been the one to also rip it away. I was everything that Morro wanted to be… and that was the reason he possessed me.

I think the reason that story still rattles me, is because I know that could have been me. It isn't just the fact that we were both set up to be the Green Ninja. When I was a kid like Morro, I struck out on my own. I wanted to prove to everybody that I was strong enough to be like my father. Morro fighting harder and harder to be like the Green Ninja reminded me too much of my attempts to look evil and bad to become Ninjago's next villain. I was trying to be like an image of my dad I didn't know. Morro was trying to be like an image of the Green Ninja that Wu had told him he could be. We'd both strived to be something bigger than ourselves. The only difference was the one of us actually succeeded.

I told Morro that I was sorry for what happened to him, but all of that didn't mean that he was allowed to go and take over Ninjago. That was when Morro told me that he wasn't planning on ruling Ninjago. He told me that he wasn't doing any of this because he had anything against Ninjago. He didn't care what happened to Ninjago. He said he'd been given a chance to finally get to strike back at destiny. I tried to ask what that meant, but he instead asked me a question that would haunt me for a long time:

"Why did _you_ deserve to be the Green Ninja instead of _me_?"

Having just seen all of that with Morro, I wasn't able to answer him. Morro said that he'd read all of my memories, and that he wasn't impressed. I'd been a spoiled kid that was told that he was about to become the Green Ninja. I hadn't trained as long as Morro had. I hadn't been born into as bad of circumstances as Morro had. I'd been abandoned by my mother, but at least I was given a place to live. I hadn't even treated Wu with respect for a long time. In terms of the way that the two of us started out… Morro was the one more worthy to become the Green Ninja.

That was what started getting me to think about destiny. For some reason, destiny had chosen me over Morro. I wasn't sure why. After seeing all of that, after feeling all of that… I felt like Morro deserved it too. Morro told me that was what he wanted me to think about. And once he saw that I was thinking, he just told me that he had to get back to doing everything that he needed to.

I was alone again after that. Morro had left me to think about everything he'd just showed me. I'd learned everything about Morro that I had to. He left me alone, to think about everything that he'd told me. He left me alone again, and I had no idea what was going on.

I think that at that time, Morro was stealing the Scroll of Airjitzu from Ronin. I don't have that much to really say about Ronin, so I don't want to talk about him right now. I almost think the reason he showed me everything, was to keep me down so I wouldn't interfere when he and the new ghosts that he was summoning were attacking the ninja, I couldn't stop him. If that was what he wanted, he got it. I wasn't able to fight his possession while I was left with all of those memories inside my head. I was left completely alone and confused. All I could really think about was what I'd seen. I had to think about if I was really meant to become the Green Ninja.

I'd never really thought about that question before. I'd asked myself why I had to do the things that I did after I became the Green Ninja. I've talked a lot about that in the previous chapters. But, I'd never actually gotten to thinking about why destiny chose _me_ to be the Green Ninja. I'd always assumed that was something that was just set in stone. I'd asked it before when I was upset and asked why I had to go and fight my father, but I'd never even considered the fact that there were others before me that could have been the Green Ninja.

I didn't know what to even make of what Morro showed me. I keep saying that, I know, but it was just that hard for me to process. What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to think? I didn't know. This was all at the same time that I was a prisoner inside my own head. Morro was running around in my body to go and complete some evil plan. I hadn't figured out what that was, and at that point I didn't even know about the symbols. I'd only just barely learned I could share thoughts with Morro.

This hadn't been like anything else. When Chen messed with me, it was just him manipulating me into his own goals. When I faced the Overlord and Golden Master, I was having to fight myself. Nobody had ever challenged me like this before. Morro was showing me something I'd never thought of before: maybe I wasn't meant to be special.

Until then, I'd always told myself that since I was the son of Lord Garmadon, I was the only one that could actually face him. Thus, I had to be the Green Ninja. I was the only one that could face him down and actually fight him. If someone else did it, they wouldn't have been able to unlock their true potential like I had. That was an easy answer that I'd come to after becoming the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. That was me just explaining destiny, though. I hadn't ever thought of why destiny had picked me to begin with. Was it because I was just the logical option? Was there something else? Was I just better than Morro? If I was, then why was Morro so much stronger than me? Why was he able to possess me like this? I didn't get it. I just didn't get it.

I'd gotten a taste of who it was that was inside my head. Morro had shown me something and made me question who I was. While I was down for the count, Morro was free to put his own plans into motion. It was becoming time for him to confront destiny itself.

* * *

"Here," Skylor placed two bowls of noodles down in front of Kai and Lloyd, "On the house."

Lloyd looked around. It'd turned out that the 'special restaurant' that Kai had been talking about was none other than Chen's Noodle House. This being a place that had imagery of a man that had tried to kill him before, this hadn't exactly been what Lloyd had in mind when Kai had put all of that talk into his head.

"Hey, babe," Kai reached out and placed his hand over Skylor's own, "How you feeling?"

"Greasy, sweaty, and probably about to drop Kenny down a trapdoor if he messes up another bowl," Skylor sighed, "You probably don't wanna touch me right now."

"I haven't seen you for awhile, though," Kai pointed out, "Can't I at least give you some fire to get you through the rest of the day?"

"I think you just did," Skylor raised her other hand to let flames flicker from them, "Not sure what I'll use it for, but I'll think of something."

Kai tugged a bit on Skylor's hand, and in turn Skylor gave a small roll of the eyes before leaning down to give him a small kiss on the cheek. As she pulled back, Kai grinned at her and leaned back in the booth he sat in.

"I knew you couldn't resist me," Kai winked at her.

"Keep making silly comments like those and I might just start doing that." Skylor rolled her eyes, turning over to Lloyd as she did, "Everything tastes good?"

"Yeah, thanks, Skylor," Lloyd smiled at her, "It's really good."

"Good, that's what I want to hear," Skylor turned around, "Well, if you all need anything let me know! And only those bowls are on the house, everything else you two have to get yourselves!"

Kai rolled his eyes to Skylor, who in turn just chuckled and left to disappear behind the double doors that lead back to the kitchen. Lloyd looked up to Kai, who was already diving hard into the noodles. It took Lloyd a few minutes to finally get it in him to speak up.

"So… why did you bring us here, Kai?" Lloyd started into his own bowl, "Did you miss Skylor that much?"

"What?" Kai blinked, "Nah, I just figured that after those chapters you wrote, you'd probably wanna get out of that place. I know whenever things get heavy for me, I don't like hanging around. Cole said you could talk about some heavy stuff and, well, Morro was pretty intense."

Hearing that made Lloyd a little confused. For some reason, he'd thought Kai just wanted an excuse to go and meet up with his girlfriend. Maybe that was true, but his reasoning was actually… pretty sound. He went out to other places with Zane and Cole. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but if this was actually Kai being considerate…

"I wanted to ask," Kai asked as he finished off his bowl, "Why'd you want me to be the one that did these chapters with you? I mean, you know, why not just keep doing it with Zane?"

"Cause… you were the one that was there for me," Lloyd stated simply, "When everyone else was running away, you were the one that stayed behind. You stayed behind a lot, just to try to save me. And… well. You're probably the one that it's easiest to talk about because of it."

Kai was silent for a few moments. He looked Lloyd up and down, which made Lloyd suddenly feel as though he'd said something wrong. After that, however, Kai shrugged and went back to eating, an action which made Lloyd somewhat suspicious.

"I was just doing what I had to for you," Kai stated simply, "You're the Green Ninja. We're supposed to be your protectors. After you'd just lost your father… I figured you needed someone to help watch over you. Once I realized that you were still in there, I couldn't just leave you behind. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea, but I'm not really the one for smart things. I thought if I could help you even in a small way, it was worth trying."

"Thanks, Kai…" Lloyd was a bit taken aback by the answer, "Really… thank you. I know that I haven't touched on it yet but… knowing that you were there fighting for me, really helped with Morro all up inside my head."

"I'm sure I'll be hearing plenty about it," Kai smirked, then reached over the table to thump Lloyd's shoulder, "Chin up, little guy. Eat up, then I wanna swing over by the arcade."

"The arcade?" Lloyd blinked, "Uh… why there?"

"Cause I haven't gone in a long time and this is the perfect excuse to go!" Kai grinned, "I hope you're ready for it!"


	25. The Thoughts Inside My Head

Why had destiny picked me to be the Green Ninja?

There are two ways of answering that question. The easiest way of answering it is like how I talked about last time: I was the only one that would ever confront Lord Garmadon the way that destiny needed me to. If I hadn't hesitated, then the Overlord wouldn't have been defeated in the way that I did. I don't know how much destiny planned for the Golden Master, but as for what the actual prophecy said about me that was it. I was there because I had to defeat the Overlord in the Final Battle, which had to be triggered that way.

The thing is… I don't know how exactly to answer the question as to why destiny picked _me_ specifically. Anyone could have gone and defeated the Overlord like that. Someone could have hesitated to kill my father on the Dark Island, or never even gotten that to happen at all. So many things had to happen the way they did. But, that's not what I mean. I'd never thought before that someone other than me could have done what I did. And the more that I was forced in my own head to think about it… the more I started asking myself that question again. Just because you can answer a question in one way doesn't mean you've solved it.

Morro was always there to talk to me. After he showed me his past, he started to act more like he did when I first fought him. He was arrogant, always talking down to me like I was just a kid to him. I know what that's like specifically after having spent a very long time dealing with that while I was training to become the Green Ninja in the first place. Morro started to tell me that no matter what I did to him, I couldn't stop his plans. Each time I pushed against him, I was just delaying the inevitable.

The thing was, all I could do while I was trapped there, was think. I couldn't go anywhere, and I wasn't in control of my body. I was just my own head, trapped inside of myself. And that meant that I just had time to think. I know that I've had times I've gotten too wrapped up in my own thoughts before… but that was literally all I could do.

The first thing I had to do was actually get all of the memories of Morro's past out of my head. I wasn't sure how to go about that, since they all felt so real to me. I had to sit there for a long time and just remember my own life. I had to go through each event in my past since I'd met the ninja one by one, just to be able to get my head back on straight. Each time that I felt something from Morro's memories starting to encroach on me, I had to just push it all away again by remembering something about my own past. I, thankfully, had a very raw recent memory of my father, which made pushing away Morro's thoughts easier.

I don't know how long that took me to do, but Morro must have noticed. I had finally started to come down from my own confusion when Morro appeared in front of me again. This time, though, he wasn't wearing those green robes. Instead, he looked like what I thought he did: a ghost. He was wearing those strange tattered robes with the large dragon emblem on the front, his entire body glowing green, and his hair still sporting that green streak inside of it. He wasn't smiling anymore either.

Morro asked me a simple thing: what did I hope to do by fighting against him? I told him that was pretty obvious. I wanted to get him out of my head so I could stop whatever plans he had for Ninjago. When Morro asked me if I actually knew what those plans were, I told him that it didn't matter. If he'd taken over my body and hurt my friends, I'd stop him no matter what. Not that I had any way of actually getting out to stop him.

After that, Morro asked me another question: why did I protect Ninjago? I don't know why, but I wanted to give him an answer that would provoke him, so I told him that I did it because I was the Green Ninja. That was when I felt Morro's anger for the first time. Since we were connected, I could sense his emotions. I'd never felt someone looking at me with such pure anger before. This wasn't like when I put an enemy on the run and they were cursing me. This was someone being so just, completely enraged with me that I actually felt worried. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at him. And he must have felt my fear, since he didn't let up on the anger as he spoke.

Morro told me a lot of things while we were together like that. He told me that Ninjago was ruled by destiny, in a way that nobody should have to abide by. He didn't care about what happened to Ninjago itself, that was up to will of whomever his master was. Said master had given him a chance to finally defy destiny, something he'd wanted from the day that Wu told him that destiny had spoken for him. I couldn't figure out who that master was. Morro was guarding those particular memories, and sharing memories with him wasn't as straightforward as it was for him to do with me.

Whenever Morro spoke to me, I always felt like somehow, he was right. Morro was filled with such anger, such dedication to his goal, I don't know how else to put it other than saying that I felt like he was right. He wasn't a good person. He'd already gone and hurt my friends, and he was planning to do something horrible to Ninjago. I knew all of this in my head. And yet, the more that I heard him talking about why he felt he was justified in taking over Ninjago, I just felt like he was talking sense.

I think the reason for that is because Morro was just so dedicated to it. Every villain that I'd met had a goal, but Morro's goal didn't feel like it was something that was evil. I'd felt what Morro went through. I understood why Morro wanted to defy destiny. And on some deep down level I didn't want to acknowledge… I wanted to too.

Morro saw that. He saw right through me. I don't know if it was just because he'd gone through my head to get inside my body in the first place, but he figured it out. When he started talking about defying destiny, he told me that I knew why he wanted to do it. He brought up everything. He brought up how destiny meant I was abandoned by my family, how it meant I had to deal with my father being my enemy, losing Zane… and then losing my father.

The thing was, I did get it. I wanted to deny it, but I did. I opened this book by saying that I thought that Morro was right. That wasn't just me trying to grab attention (did I say that already..?). When Morro was inside of my head like this… I couldn't help but feel like I agreed with him. Destiny had taken a lot from me. It took away my childhood so I could be ready for the final battle. It took away my father from me, forcing me to have to come to terms with having to fight him. It forced me to actually go and fight my father, when there was no choice for me to do anything but kill him. But most of all, destiny took away the one reward that I was given for powering through everything. The one thing, the one person that I finally had in my life as a way of reconciling everything that happened… was gone.

I know it wasn't destiny that took my father away. I was the one that sent him off. I could have let Wu do it, but I chose to do that. It wasn't how my father got taken away from me, but the fact that he was. The reason that I dedicated an entire chapter talking about that, was because this was why it was important. Whenever Morro talked about my father, I felt like I couldn't do anything. Whenever I tried to argue that I didn't care about destiny, it just took him mentioning that one little memory to get me to stop.

I thought I'd gotten over it by then. I'd thrown myself into being a ninja, and I'd been doing good with it too. Now that I had to actually try to say that I was over it, however, Morro was able to just take me down. I thought that I'd worked past everything that happened. There was always just a small bit of anger, a small bit of guilt in me that I couldn't get over. No matter how much I pushed it down, Morro would always be there to dredge it back up.

There was only so much I could do. Whenever I got upset, I would try to use that feeling to push against Morro's influence on me. A few times, I would get close to actually breaking out of Morro's grasp. However, Morro would always manage to hold me back. I could only push on Morro for so long before I got exhausted. Morro was going to hold me back no matter what, and there was nothing I felt I could do.

I tried. I kept trying, and trying, and trying! I did everything I could to get out of Morro's control. I knew that Morro was doing something horrible outside of my head. I could tell that Morro had just learned something new, and I started trying to grasp it. I didn't know what it was at the time, but I knew that Morro had gotten something important. I had to go and stop him, somehow. So I kept trying to peer into his thoughts. That was actually how I learned Airjitzu.

Since I've talked a little bit about Airjitzu before now, I guess that I should at least touch on it a little bit here. I'm not sure what exactly to really say about it, though. It's a martial art that requires you to at least understand Spinjitzu. The motions aren't actually that complicated either. It has a completely different feel to Spinjitzu, though. Whenever I'm doing Airjitzu, it doesn't feel like I'm using it to attack someone. It's more like just something I can do to get around. Spinjitzu feels more like an attack, and Airjitzu is more like a tool.

The thing is, after everything that happened with Morro, we didn't use Airjitzu that much. I guess part of why is because it's more of a tool. With Spinjitzu, you can attack someone and use the speed of the tornado you make to move around quickly. The only times I remember using Airjitzu was when we had to jump off of things or climb things quickly. It's useful, but… I think it's just situational. It was usually faster to just climb up something, or to just summon my elemental dragon if I had to do something big.

Trying to learn Airjitzu from Morro's thoughts was one way that I was able to keep myself busy. If I stopped to try to think about things, I'd get wrapped up in what Morro showed me and thinking about destiny. I didn't want to think about either of them, so I kept learning and training. I wasn't able to actually do Airjitzu, since I wasn't actually moving my body to do it. Doing all of that also gave me a lot of time to read Morro's thoughts and start to understand what exactly he was doing a lot more.

I figured out what Morro's plan was, to an extent. Somehow, his master was going to come in and curse all of Ninjago. I didn't know what that master was, or how the staff symbols he was going after factored into it. Morro was driven to do only that. I never sensed any sort of hesitation inside of him. I thought that if I could get him thinking about Wu, I'd be able to maybe slow him down. But each time that Morro even thought of Wu's face, it was more like I'd actually just given him a boost to keep going. I'd never seen someone that ran so single-mindedly on hate before.

That's another thing that made Morro so different from other villains: his determination. When I was fighting on the Dark Island, I was constantly having to muster up the determination to keep going. Morro, however, never had a single moment where he didn't have it. That was why he was able to keep me possessed for so long. Whenever he started to feel his control slipping, I could feel him summoning his anger and then shoving me right back down. He wasn't just some bad guy, though. Morro was a person. This was a person that had been hurt so badly, he wanted to just, hurt everyone else. Every other villain didn't feel like they were determined in the same way that Morro was.

I think that's because Morro, wasn't just some evil person. Morro felt that he was right. I don't mean in the way that Chen said that the Anacondrai deserved to rule, or in how Pythor saw the Serpentine as the superior race. Morro, deep down, believed that he'd been wronged. There was nothing I could do to change that. Right up until the end, I think Morro felt that everything that he'd done was justified. He thought that he needed to show destiny up for what it'd done to him. And that meant that I couldn't try to get through to him. There wasn't any doubt in his mind for me to try to use to show him what he was doing was wrong.

That wasn't to say that I didn't try. I constantly tried to tell Morro that he shouldn't do any of this. I told him that he couldn't just hurt innocent people with whatever plan he was following. I never got him to even flinch. I could feel his thoughts, so I knew if I was getting through to him. No matter what I said, what memories I referenced or just whatever I tried to tell him, nothing worked.

So there I was, trapped there with Morro. I didn't have any chance to do anything to stop him. Morro was currently on his way now to steal gear he needed to ascend the Wailing Alps and make it to the next thing he wanted. All I knew was that he wanted some sort of sword, something that would help him find the location of the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master. I had figured out from listening to him that was what he wanted. Yet any attempts to glean anything further than that, I was being shut out.

Telling how much time had passed wasn't easy. Without anything to actually look at, I just had to guess what was happening. It felt far way longer than I thought it was. All I could really do was just try to keep getting things out of Morro's head. I think he noticed that I was always picking at him, since he was very careful with what he was thinking. He was quick to cut things off if he was saying something important. I didn't even learn the names of the ghosts that he was talking to for a long time, since he was even careful enough not to say them as well.

Eventually, I wasn't able to keep listening. Morro was just taking too much time and doing too much for me to really keep at it. And soon, that just left me with thinking again. I was left to think about how Morro was using me to accomplish some evil goal, how he wanted me to see that somehow, I wasn't worthy of being the Green Ninja. If that was his plan, it was working. I was powerless against him.

I remembered one thing, however, that kept me going. Kai had been there when I managed to break out of Morro's grasp. He'd been there to tell me that he was going to help me. Somehow, I knew that Morro had encountered Kai again. I think it was when Kai was chasing down Morro for the scroll he stole from Ronin. I knew from Morro letting slip in his thoughts he was happy to 'show up that pathetic ninja' that Kai had to still be after me. The others weren't giving up on me. They were still coming for me.

That was the thing I had to hold onto. Whenever I would break down and start to feel hopeless, whenever Morro would slam me back down after I tried to push back against him, I had to hope that somewhere, somehow, the ninja were coming after me. Kai, in particular, said that he was going to look after me. That meant that the ninja were coming for me. I had to hold out, and had to keep up the fight inside of Morro.

So that's what I did. I kept fighting. It felt hopeless, in a way. Morro's will was completely solid. There was nothing I could say to him that wouldn't either make him ignore me or just strengthen him. Morro was in charge of the situation, and in turn, he was going to be in charge of whatever destiny happened to me. And because of that, I was going to have to just resist him. Whatever it took, I just had to keep going. I had to. I couldn't stop.

Soon, Morro and I were going to have our heads in the clouds. I was about to learn more about destiny than I ever thought possible. I was about to learn more about Ninjago than ever before, and it was all thanks to a certain kingdom. I was on my way to Cloud Kingdom.

* * *

"And there we go," Lloyd stretched his back out, "You, don't think it's too short, do you?"

"Why's that a problem?" Kai asked, leaning forward with a sigh, "I think if you got across what you wanted to get across."

"Is it too hard to follow?" Lloyd asked nervously, "I tried to make it clear what was going on. I… I know I was repeating myself a lot. But, I know that Zane can maybe edit some of that out too. Were you able to understand what was happening?"

"Relax, Lloyd!" Kai sat up, "You're writing a book not giving a huge speech! You were trapped inside your own head. I think you're doing fine."

"Are you sure?" Lloyd stood up, "I know I'm asking a lot, but, it's just really hard for me to talk about. It's like, an entire other set of things happened while I was possessed. I mean, you guys made that deal with Ronin, and then Cole got turned into a ghost, and you had that whole stuff with finding the tomb…"

"Lloyd, it's your book!" Kai exclaimed, walking over to put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder, "You tell it how you wanna tell it. I was following along just fine! It's not like anybody else we know has any real experience with being possessed, nobody is gonna try to tell you that what you said is wrong. You're getting way too worked up around this."

"Ermm…." Lloyd blushed, feeling a small sense of embarrassment rising in him, "Yeah… I… I guess that I am. Heh. I'm just, you know, I'm worried, cause I already know this book is gonna be something a lot of people are gonna think it weird so, I don't want to make it confusing on top of that."

"You're fine, man," Kai shook his head, "Write your book how you wanna write it. I'm not really the one to talk to, but I think I got everything you were trying to say. If that's all you were worried about, then I think you're good."

"Yeah… thanks, thanks," Lloyd nodded his head, "So… are you liking this, so far, Kai?"

"Hrmm?" Kai looked over at the seat Lloyd recorded in, "Yeah, I'm enjoying it. It's nice to get to hear what you were thinking. Is that what you mean?"

"Uh… yeah, actually," Lloyd hadn't expected such a straightforward response, "Well… uh, next time I need to talk about Cloud Kingdom so… you might hear me get a little angry with that."

"Really? Those weird guys?" Kai blinked, "Why?"

"It's… complicated," Lloyd assured him, "Let's just say I'm not exactly looking to go there, ever again."


	26. That Kingdom In the Clouds

I don't know where to start with Cloud Kingdom.

Well, I guess I know where to start. One thing that you all have probably heard about but never seen is that Ninjago is one of Sixteen Realms. I, don't exactly know whether or not the First Spinjitzu Master created all of the realms after he left the First Realm, or if he just created Ninjago and all the other realms were already there. It's not really something we can exactly go looking into. The Cursed Realm is obviously one of them. The Underworld is one too. Those are probably the two that most of you would be familiar with.

Cloud Kingdom is one of them too. Normally, you can only access another realm from Ninjago through a few special ways. Dragons are able to go between realms, but there aren't anymore dragons in Ninjago that can do that. The easiest way is to use the Realm Crystal, which I'll talk more about later. The last way is to have some sort of special place in Ninjago that's linked to another realm. It's sort of like if you cut a hole in a wall between two buildings, and if you knew where the hole was you could go between them. Only instead of a hole, it's a giant swirling vortex in the sky.

The Blind Man's Eye is a big storm that passes around the Wailing Alps. If you get to the top of the tallest peak, you'd be close enough to the Eye in order to use something like Airjitzu to get into it. That's actually the reason that the first 'clue' to the tomb was Airjitzu. (If I hadn't made clear, Morro had stolen Wu's staff and shown there were three symbols on it that were 'clues' to the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master. I didn't exactly get that myself since Morro only talked about the clues individually for a long time.) If you jumped into the Eye, you'd be able to enter the gates of Cloud Kingdom.

I think the reason why my thoughts on Cloud Kingdom are so complicated, is because unlike all of the other realms I've been to, Cloud Kingdom actually directly affects Ninjago. The other realms are all separate from our realm, but Cloud Kingdom isn't. That's because Cloud Kingdom is full of people that do one thing: they write destiny.

...I'd always thought that destiny was some sort of cosmic force that worked independent of everyone. And, to be fair, that's still somewhat true. What I've come to understand is that the writers of Cloud Kingdom aren't entirely how destiny works. They write down what they think destiny should do, and then destiny will take that and roll with it. Remember how I said that I see destiny like the key points that you have to hit in someone's story? Those guys would write those down in a scroll, and then destiny would take care of the rest.

Now, they don't do that anymore. After we caused a bunch of chaos while we were inside Cloud Kingdom, the writers decided that they wouldn't interfere in destiny anymore. I learned this when we went to try to return the Sword of Sanctuary to them, which is what the second clue was and from now on I'll be called it to the SoS (we actually ended up keeping the sword in a vault instead). To me, that says that destiny isn't just them. It's something that works through them, but isn't them exactly. They could get it going, but without them destiny would just do something naturally. Sort of like, if you diverted a river by digging a canal. You've changed where the water goes, but the water is still flowing either way.

The thing is, I never thought that it was people that actually decided to write down that I was going to be the one to become the Green Ninja. Whatever was written in the scrolls, it happened. They were the ones that put me through everything that happened to me. They were the ones that basically turned my life into what it was. Every single painful thing I had to do leading up to the final battle was because of them.

In some way, Cloud Kingdom is responsible for every horrible thing that's ever happened to me. The weird thing is, I'm not mad at them.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm actually okay with Cloud Kingdom. Knowing that destiny was being written by people is sort of messed up. Basically, Cloud Kingdom was able to control the lives of people in Ninjago. Whatever they wrote down happened. They could write down that it was your destiny to get thrown off a cliff, and somehow you'd one day find yourself going off a cliff. I think the ninja said they even witnessed something happen to Dareth's scroll that actually happened to him here in Ninjago. That's… messed up, in a lot of ways.

I want to be angry at Cloud Kingdom. I really want to be angry at them. I want to try to muster up some anger so I can say more about them. They're messed up, and everything they were doing is just so… so wrong. But, I can't. I think I can't because of what I saw in Cloud Kingdom… nobody there was evil. Outside of the one guy that tried to kill the ninja.

Okay, okay, let me back up here. I think I need to preface how exactly we even got to Cloud Kingdom before I actually talk more about them, otherwise you'll be even more confused. I think the last thing that I was talking about last chapter was about Morro getting the scroll and leaving me trying to play catch up with him. Okay. I was trapped underneath Morro's control for a long time, and I didn't manage to get a lot of what he was doing.

So. Morro needed to get up the Wailing Alps to reach the Blind Man's Eye. So, he went to the Samurai X Cave. I'm still not saying where it is, since he got it from reading my memories. When he arrived, he ran into Nya. The biggest reason that I mention this is that Nya, somehow, destroyed the Allied Armor Morro was wearing, meaning now Morro was stuck with three ghosts that he'd summoned. Morro must have been hit with something, since there was a moment of pain I remember that gave me a chance to push back on him. That was how I managed to figure out that we were in the Samurai X Cave.

There were three ghosts: Bansha, Ghoultar, and Soul Archer. I don't really have much to say on them, since I didn't actually spend any time with them. I only learned their names by pouring over every single thought Morro had. I learned Soul Archer's name and got an idea of what he looked like, but I didn't even know what Ghoultar and Bansha were liked until a lot later. The reason that we went to the cave in the first place was so one of them could take Nya's Samurai X mech to help scale the Wailing Alps.

It was also during this time that I learned something about Morro I didn't realize: ghosts were weak to water. I was still pushing on Morro's control when I felt a panic from Morro I hadn't felt before. It had started to rain, and Morro was afraid that his control was about to be taken away. Ghosts, apparently, will get sent back to the Cursed Realm if they touch water. Only water, though. For some reason, they can walk through ice and steam easily, but just not water.

I tried to break out of Morro's control again when he started panicking, but that ended with him appearing to me again and telling me that I was still a failure, then shoving me back down hard enough that I couldn't try again for a long time. Each time Morro was appearing to me, he was looking more and more angry. He'd long since stopped using that human form to talk to me, and was showing up as a ghost. He assured me that soon enough, he'd have everything he needed to keep me from ever rising up against him again.

It was at this point that Morro and the ghosts began their trek in the mech over to the Wailing Alps. I wasn't really in it for most of that. Morro had a very one track mind, and at this point I had learned that he wanted something called the SoS. I didn't know what the sword did, since he was careful not to tell me. He had to get to somewhere called Cloud Kingdom.

During this time, the ninja also got in mechs and started chasing him, after they had gotten a scroll of Airjitzu from Sensei Yang's temple. During this time, Cole got turned into a ghost. I can't say anything else about it, since I wasn't there, and I didn't even get to be around Cole much while he was a ghost. Now, I'm going to talk about Cole being a ghost later, since it's actually something right after all this happened that involved it a lot more. But I don't have that much to say about Cole being a ghost during all of this. I promise I'll talk about it in a later chapter.

Anyways. So, Morro climbed up the Wailing Alps. I wasn't really in it for most of them. Morro tried to stop the ninja, and he made it towards the top first. I know I'm jumping around here, but… I can't really say much when I was just sitting around in my head. I only realized where we were when I started feeling Morro getting upset. I could feel Morro getting angry enough he wasn't guarding his thoughts.

Morro was at the top of the Alps, and the wind was getting ready to throw him off. I felt an anger from Morro that felt like what I felt when I said I was the Green Ninja. He demanded that the wind obey him, because he controls the wind. He reached out with his power and, somehow, actually managed to stop the wind. When I felt that, I realized I had a chance to slow Morro down, and to learn something about him.

As Morro started to climb his way up again, I started to realize that Morro wanted to control things. He wanted to control his own destiny by defying what was already laid out to him. He controlled the wind, just like he was controlling me. Morro was controlling the situation. I know that sounds weird to point out… but it was just another example of how determined Morro was. Morro felt that what he was doing was exactly what needed to be done. He was controlling an entire mountain, just to make sure that he got what he wanted. He was so driven to his goal, he was doing things I didn't think I could do.

That, however, made it really easy for me to start to push against him again. Morro had exhausted himself stopping the wind, and so while he was clinging to an icicle, I was able to start to push out of his control again. I wasn't able to break free all the way, but I was able to take hold of Morro's hands and force him to hang on. Morro wanted to try to fly up and get inside the Blind Man's Eye that was passing overhead, but I knew that I needed to stop him. I got from Morro's thoughts he was upset that the ninja were chasing him. I had to slow him down, just so my friends could get to wherever he was going first.

It worked. Morro was quick to get rid of me again, but I managed to slow him down. I think it was the first time during everything all that time I was being possessed that I actually felt happy. I had actually stopped him from doing what he wanted. Morro was furious and rattled. I managed to get the ninja into this Cloud Kingdom place before Morro! Morro's thoughts were going crazy, and I knew that he was now behind the ninja.

And then… Bansha opened up a backdoor into Cloud Kingdom.

Okay. This is something that I'm actually mad about. It's not the fact that I had managed to slow Morro down, or the fact that Bansha just so happened to know some random way into Cloud Kingdom. What really makes me upset, is that Morro just didn't use that in the first place.

I know it sounds weird to say that I was upset the villain didn't get ahead of the heroes from the start, but to me, it made everything that Morro had done in my body worthless. If Bansha could have done that from the start, why did we even need the mech? Why did Morro need to keep possessing me? The ninja finally managed to get a leap ahead of Morro, and somehow he just happened to have a convenient way into Cloud Kingdom?!

If Morro had done that from the start, I could have actually slowed him down more. I would have been able to fight Morro more! I mean, I just! I don't know! I'm angry about it! How is it fair that the ninja were just, upstaged like that?! I wish Morro had just used it from the beginning so it didn't feel like everything that I'd done up to that point was worthless! I don't know if I'm making sense but, that's just how I feel!

...So, Morro managed to get into Cloud Kingdom with the help of the Head Writer, Fennwick. Fennwick is the only guy in Cloud Kingdom I think I actually say that I hate. He made a deal with Morro saying that he'd make sure his destiny was 'ensured' in exchange for giving Morro this SoS he wanted so badly. Fennwick was willing to curse all of Ninjago and probably a lot more, just to make sure he was safe.

Now, the other ninja said something to me, that I don't agree with. They said they think that Morro made a deal with Fennwick, which was how he managed to get out of the Cursed Realm. The reason they say that is because Fennwick opened up a way for Morro and the others to get into Cloud Kingdom, which means he had to have some way of contacting them in the first place. Basically, they think that Morro tricked his way out of the Cursed Realm.

No. The Morro I knew inside my head would never have done that. Morro hated destiny. He hated everything to do with it, and wanted to defy it. I tried to ask him what he thought about Cloud Kingdom, but he never answered me. He was normally so quick to tell me what he thought about everything in an attempt to tear me down. For some reason, though, he never wanted to mention Cloud Kingdom. To me, that says that Morro hated them more than anything.

Here's the thing: if Morro got out of the Cursed Realm that way, that wouldn't be him 'defying destiny' like he said he would. That would be him just manipulating destiny. Morro wanted to prove to me that my destiny to be the Green Ninja wasn't supposed to happen. He wanted to show me that even if everything was telling him he couldn't be the Green Ninja, or that he couldn't do the impossible, he'd be able to do it. The Morro that I knew would _never_ have been okay with the idea that he was using destiny to get out. If he had gotten Fenwick to change destiny… that still meant that he was being guided by destiny.

I never was able to feel anything from Morro when he was talking to Fennwick. That, to me, was odd. Morro was always thinkingsomething when he was talking to someone. I don't understand why he was deciding to clam up for that. It just, didn't make any sense to me. I wasn't able to push on him at all, either. He was completely immovable while he was taking the SoS. I think that Morro was so angry at Fenwick that he didn't want to give anything away to me. He didn't want me to see him upset for some reason. I don't know why, but that was what I felt.

I guess maybe that's part of why I don't hate Cloud Kingdom. To them, they're just doing a job. I didn't get to see it, but I got a bit of it from what the ninja told me. The people had to write the destiny that was best for everyone. They had to figure out a path for someone's life that was the best for them. I don't know how they did that, but, I guess it's sort of like… I mean, it's sort of like how a general gives orders for what's good for the entire army, not each person? That's the only way I can think to even describe it.

Maybe I just wasn't there enough to understand, and I never want to go there. I don't get Cloud Kingdom. To me, it's confusing and strange. I never want to think about how there were people that decided I was going to be the Green Ninja. I had assumed it was just the universe that did it. It wasn't. And, that's just something I don't want to think about. So, I'm not going to.

Anyways. Morro got the sword, and the ninja chased him out of Cloud Kingdom for it. I was starting to get back up from slowing Morro down the first time, and part of that was because Morro was taking up so much energy to escape. Whenever Morro started doing anything that put his concentration on something else, he wasn't able to focus as much on me. That meant that I was actively fighting him while his thoughts told me that he had the sword.

The last time that I managed to actively break out of Morro's control was when Kai finally got close enough to take the sword. Morro's thoughts were telling me that Kai was in trouble. I was trying as hard as I could to get out, and that was when I felt Morro's thoughts imagining how he was about to kill Kai. Somehow, he'd cornered Kai. Kai was there for me again. The ninja had come for me again, and Kai was about to get hurt because of it.

That was when I managed to break free again. I was standing on some weird black and green boat that Morro stole from Cloud Kingdom and sliding down the Wailing Alps on it. Kai was in front of me on the ground ready to take a blow. Morro clawed at me to try to stop me, but I was free again. As soon as I saw Kai, I told him he needed to take the sword.

I didn't hear much of what Kai said. Right then, all I knew was that Morro had the sword, and the ninja needed it inside. Morro threw my body down onto the deck to try to knock me loose, and that was when Kai took the sword. Kai told me to keep fighting, and I remember him saying some other things. Knowing that Kai had the sword, that was all I needed. I smiled, because I knew that I'd finally managed to do some good.

That was the longest time that I managed to get out of Morro's grasp, and it only felt like it was a few seconds. As soon as Morro reasserted his control, he pushed me down harder than he had ever before. He screamed at me for giving the sword to Kai, demanding to know what I'd just done. I told him that I was going to fight him until the end. Morro said he wouldn't let me interfere again, even if I had just cost him the sword. That was the last thing that he said to me before I felt fear from him. I think we had just gone off a cliff, because when we hit the bottom, I was knocked out.

I really wish I could say more about all of this, but I can't. Morro wasn't letting me see what he was doing enough to give you a full picture. When I was trapped under Morro, I wasn't getting what I wanted. I had to piece it together from stray thoughts I was able to get from him. In truth, all that I actually during all of that was that Morro was climbing a mountain, the moment where I stopped him from going inside, hearing about a 'backdoor' from Bansha, and then when I broke free when I felt that Morro was about to hurt Kai. I don't know what happened in Cloud Kingdom during that, so I'll give a quick summary just to be sure I have it down here:

Morro got the scroll, then stole the Samurai X mech to climb the Wailing Alps and get into Cloud Kingdom. I stopped him getting inside, and the ninja did. Bansha made all of that pointless by opening a backdoor for Morro to get inside Cloud Kingdom and make a deal with Fennwick (who, now that I think about, I don't know what happened to) and get the SoS. Morro did, and the ninja chased him back down the Wailing Alps. I broke free at the last minute to give Kai the sword, and then Morro went over a cliff and I was knocked out.

With all of that said, Morro now had lost the second clue, and I'd officially given the ninja their leg up in the battle. When I started waking up, Morro was already moving again. He was furious. I don't think Morro had thought I'd give him a setback like that, and he was panicking trying to figure out how he was going to actually get the sword back. I actually was feeling pretty good. Morro wasn't happy that I was happy, but I couldn't help it. I'd managed to stop Morro's plans, right after I thought that he was going to win no matter what I did. I was going to actually manage to help my friends, even if they couldn't rescue me like this.

I had no idea how quickly everything was about to go wrong. I never thought that I'd go grave robbing, but Morro had one more trick up his sleeve that even he didn't think to use at that point. Things were about to go from bad to worse, and it was all about to be thanks to a deal I'd never even heard about.

* * *

"There," Lloyd sighed as he finished the chapter, "...Okay, that had to be even more confusing than the last chapter, right?"

"Was fine to me," Kai shrugged, "You know if you keep asking that at the end of every one of these, I'm just eventually gonna start saying they were fine either way, right?"

"...Yeah, I guess it's probably silly to worry about it," Lloyd admitted, "So, uh… what are we gonna do now?"

"I got a few ideas," Kai stood up, "But first of all, I'm hungry. Let's go get dinner."

"Again?" Lloyd sighed as he stood up, "I don't really think it's good to eat out like that again."

"What?" Kai shook his head, "Nah, Zane is busy tonight, so I said that I'd cook."

"You… what?" Lloyd asked. He continued to hold that question long after he soon found himself standing in the kitchen alongside Kai, who was quickly fastening an apron around his shoulders.

"Alright, I'm thinking we can probably do a simple meal since everyone's probably hungry," Kai looked around, "I'm thinking that we just get some glazed chicken going, then we make some flavored rice to go with it. Can't go wrong with that. I'll make some egg rolls too if people want that."

"Wait a minute!" Lloyd finally snapped himself out enough to ask, "Where did you learn how to cook?!"

"What do you mean?" Kai held up a few cooking utensils, "I used to cook everyday for me and Nya. When I got done running the shop, I'd make us dinner while I still had the chance to. Oh, well usually I had to make sure Nya got her bath first, then I'd start dinner so she could eat when she got out."

"...I see…" Lloyd soon was looking at a pile of ingredients in front of him, and a massive wave of confusion began to roll over him, "Uh… so… what do you want me to do?"

"Do you know how to make any sorts of glazes?" Kai asked, "I know a few recipes I can find if you need help."

"...I never really learned how to cook…" Lloyd mumbled, "...I mean, I know the basic stuff but, uh… I've never done something like this before."

"Really?" Kai cocked his head, "I thought Zane taught you!"

"I was usually busy when Zane was cooking, so I kinda just...stopped asking him to teach me," Lloyd chuckled awkwardly, "Uh… yeah."

"Hrmm…" Kai rubbed his head, "Well then. That settles it. Starting tonight, I'm gonna teach you how to cook!"

"Wait, what?" Lloyd turned to Kai. The smile on Kai's face showed he was either dead serious, or completely committed to the joke. With the way Kai moved to turn on the stove, Lloyd was starting to think it was the former.

"Yep, and there's no time to waste," Kai pointed to the ingredients, "Get ready. By the end of the week, I'll have you cooking circles around Zane!" Kai lit the stove, using his hand to actually increase the heat of the burner, "Oh yeah, let's get this fire going!"

"S-Sure…" Lloyd, thoroughly confused as to what he'd just gotten himself into, slowly picked up a wooden spoon, "Let's get… cooking…"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cloud Kingdom sure was weird, wasn't it?
> 
> I know a lot of people were looking for more drama and angst, but I decided to go a different route with this. CK in show is such a strange place that brings up so many questions I'm not surprised the show doesn't like to mention it. I don't think that's a bad thing, but something to consider when analyzing the wider context. Given that Lloyd was only there as himself for a few seconds when fighting Morro, I decided to go this route with it. I hope that it is still satisfying!


	27. A Grave Setback

Since the deal I talked about at the end of the last chapter concerns him, I think that this is a good as time as any to actually talk about Ronin.

Ronin is probably one of the most mysterious people that I've ever met in Ninjago. It's not because I don't know what he does all the time, since I've gotten a pretty good idea from hearing about the crimes the Police Commissioner wants him for. Ronin is a bounty hunter, and he'll do whatever it takes to get the job done. He's also a treasure hunter, thief and con artist. I'm pretty sure that if there is anything valuable, Ronin has or has tried to steal it. Even after we've tried to put a stop to it, he's never shown any signs of slowing down on all of his shady deals.

I know what to expect when I meet up with Ronin. Ronin either helps us so he can get on our good side and make us look the other way the next time we catch up to him, or he's fighting against us. There have been many times we've gone chasing after him, only for him to end up empty-handed. He has a really good habit of leaving no evidence to convict him, even if you catch him at the scene of the crime.

The thing is, Ronin isn't evil. Sure, we've fought against Ronin a lot, but that doesn't mean that I think of him as an enemy. He's more like… an annoyance when he's against us, and a pleasant surprise when he's with us? It's really a matter of what's going on. Ronin will switch sides depending on what benefits him the most. In that way, he's probably one of the most selfish guys that I've ever met in all of Ninjago.

Even if he does that, though, Ronin doesn't exactly strike me as someone that'll just let people do evil things. When it came down to it, Ronin was willing to come back and help us. He was willing to risk going to the Cursed Realm if it meant saving Ninjago. Now, he said afterwards he did that since he couldn't exactly do business in Ninjago if it was cursed, but I don't know if that was really the case. I don't even know if Ronin knows that he cares about other people. I mean, maybe I'm reading too far into it, since I'm not the best at reading people. But, I think that Ronin just justifies doing things that don't exactly help him directly by finding a way that they do. Like, he does selfless things, but he convinces himself it was for selfish reasons?

I mean like, okay. When Ronin met the ninja when they went to get the scroll, he refused to give it to them and sold it to them instead. Then, when Kai was caught trying to get the scroll from Morro, he forced Kai into giving up all of our shares in Steep Wisdom to save him. He got involved with Nya's training only after she paid him to go and help. Everything that he did while I was possessed speaks to him being just a very selfish person only in it for the money.

The thing is… later on, Ronin saved Ninjago by giving the ninja the location of the tomb. He also gave them REX just so they could get to the tomb in the first place. I got to see the message that he left them after everything happened and… I don't know. When I saw that, and something else I'll mention later, I got the feeling that Ronin isn't a bad person, he just does bad things sometimes. But, then again I don't exactly spend enough time around him to really comment on it that much.

The reason that Ronin is important to this story is because long ago he made a deal with Soul Archer, one of the ghosts that Morro had summoned. I don't know the details, but Ronin had to pay Soul Archer a certain amount of money or else his soul would go to the Cursed Realm. Apparently, what he was paying with wasn't exactly important, since Soul Archer realized he could use that deal to force Ronin into betraying the ninja to give them the SoS.

Now, while Morro was formulating this plan of his, I was starting to get much better at fighting Morro's possession. While nothing I could do would rattle Morro, I think I was making it harder for him to have complete control of me. At that point, I knew Morro was behind the ninja, so I wanted to slow him down. It annoyed him to no end, and he even appeared to me to demand that I stop my incessant whining to him.

Whenever Morro tried to stop me from then on, all I told him was that I was a ninja, and ninja never quit. Morro seemed to get tired of hearing that after awhile, since if I said it he would just go back to what he was doing. Thankfully, he was running such a tight plan that I was able to actually put together what happened at this point.

It was actually pretty simple: Soul Archer used Bansha to contact Ronin and get him to give the SoS over to them in exchange for lifting the curse on his soul. When I heard that plan, it was like all of my hopes sank right out of me. I didn't even know who Ronin was, much less what was going on. But what I did know was that somehow Morro was getting the sword back from the ninja. I didn't see it happen, but I felt Morro telling me that if I thought I'd given him a loss, he was about to show me what was really going to happen now.

The entire time that Ronin was making his way back to Morro, I was left completely terrified. I didn't know what was going on. I had to hope that somehow what I was hearing wasn't right. I tried to get Morro to tell me he was bluffing, but he just laughed at me. It wasn't like Morro had even realized this was possible from the start, but it was the perfect backup plan. When I got to learn who Ronin really was, it was almost like a perfectly placed spy just waiting to be given orders. It was the perfect way to get what Morro wanted.

For some reason, Morro decided to make his home base in Stiix. I think the reason why was because it was a power move of sorts. Like, ghosts will vanish back to the Cursed Realm if they touch water, and any amount of water would make Morro's possession on me vanish. So living directly above water was like us constructing our base right over a volcano. It was pretty smart, honestly. I didn't know what Stiix was, though, and I only got to see it for a few minutes.

When Ronin arrived, Morro actually decided that I needed to see him. I was just sitting inside my own head when everything started to rush back to me. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew that Morro was doing something. It actually was the same feeling as when I broke free from Morro's grasp, but a lot harder and worse. Having your bodily control rush right back to you after spending a long time without it was a horrible feeling. And as soon as I had my body back, I was laying face down on the middle of some grimy floorboards and surrounded by Morro's ghosts and a man I'd never seen before.

That was when I officially met Ronin. I saw the SoS was on the table inside the scroll Morro had stolen. Ronin was held back by a strange ghost in blue robes that I guessed was Soul Archer, and another ghost in red robes came over to grab me and pull me upright. She told me that I was about to get some much needed alone time, and that was when I got to see Morro's ghost form in front of me again. He looked exactly like he did when he came to me in my head, which made me realize that he wasn't just making things up when he did that.

Bansha took me and locked me in a cage hanging from a tower Morro had built his base in. I tried to call out to the people of Stiix, but they couldn't hear me. They also likely wouldn't have tried to rescue me. Stiix was a city where people went to get away from the law, and seeing someone being strung up in a cage would be something everyone would just keep their heads down to.

For the first hour that I was up there, I was sleeping. Morro was working my body nonstop. He was still eating and drinking (oddly enough if a drink isn't water based ghosts can drink it no problem) in my body to keep me going, but he'd pushed me to my absolute limits. I don't think Morro would feel the exertion he was putting on me, and he was just using my body like it was some sort of tool. He was doing enough to keep me going, but not enough to let me rest. Both times that Morro left my body, I was too exhausted to do anything.

It took me an hour just to stand up. It was almost embarrassing how much it took to do, but it was the first that I had done it in a long time. Breaking out of Morro's control was like using my body like Morro did, but this was me having feeling back in it again. Soul Archer trained an arrow on me and warned me that if I tried anything, he'd make sure that I wouldn't get far. It wasn't like I could get anywhere if I wanted to in the first place, though.

The thing was, that was the first time that I'd been free of Morro's control completely. Morro was using Ronin to send a message to the ninja and lead them into a trap. I wasn't in Morro's head, so I didn't get to hear the details. I wasn't paying attention. I was free. I was actually, finally, free. I'd never felt so free before. Morro had taken away something from me that I never even thought could be, my body, and now I had it back.

I don't know why, but I started crying. In fact, I was crying for a long time. I think I was just so happy and relieved that I'd finally, completely, gotten away from Morro that I just couldn't help it. I was feeling every emotion all in me at once. I was happy to be free, I was angry that Morro had done that to me, confused at what Morro was doing, upset knowing that Morro could possess me again in a cage like this… just, whatever you could think of, I was feeling. Maybe my body just was trying to catch up on my emotions after I hadn't been able to have any related to it for such a long time. I don't know if that's a thing, but it felt like it.

Being free, I had a long time to think without Morro in my head. I was mainly trying to piece together everything I'd learned. It didn't work. I had gaps that couldn't explain things. I could only briefly remember what happened whenever I was free from Morro. After awhile, I just stopped. Instead, I wanted to relish being free again. I wanted to be happy that I was breathing the sea air, that I felt the wind on me again, that I could feel the bars in my hand… really, I just wanted to _feel_ again. Being trapped in my head, being unable to do anything… it makes just the act of feeling things something you start to crave again.

After I heard Morro finishing up his plan with Morro, I had enough strength back to try to fight back. It'd only been a few hours, but it felt like minutes. Now that I was on the outside, I felt like I had to keep up the fight. Maybe it was just habit. But, as Morro got ready for his next plan, I told him that he'd never be the Green Ninja. I wanted to make Morro angry, just like he'd been when we were inside each other's heads. I wanted to make him upset with the other ghosts.

Instead… he just brushed it off. It threw me off a lot. I didn't understand why Morro wasn't upset with it. He'd acted so angry inside my head, him just casually saying I wouldn't be the Green Ninja anymore for long didn't feel right. It wasn't angry. And that got me thinking: why was Morro acting like this on the outside, rather than the inside?

Honestly, I think it was just that Morro was closer to winning. Now that he was that much closer to getting to the tomb, he didn't need to act so worried. He was firmly two steps ahead of the ninja with both the scroll and sword, and he had sent the ninja on a wild chase to distract them even more. Morro felt like he had to win.

That was when he possessed me again. They lowered the cage and Morro told me that he needed me for one final task. I tried to tell Morro he couldn't know that I knew what it was like to be possessed, but that didn't matter. Morro just grabbed me and I felt that drowning feeling again. I saw Ronin curled up in the corner, twitching like I had when Morro left my body. The other ghosts were laughing at me. I really wish I could say I lasted longer against him but… it was actually faster the second time since I was so exhausted Morro didn't have to pull any memory tricks on me to get inside.

With how exhausted I was already, along with being possessed again, Morro was able to keep me calm for a long time. I didn't have any power to fight him, namely since I was so upset to be back in that strange place again. I hated wherever Morro had me trapped. I wasn't able to feel again, and having just had it again, I felt hopeless. I didn't want to cry and show Morro how beaten down I was getting, but he didn't need to. The fact I wasn't able to fight him for the entire time he was going to the tomb told him everything that he needed to know. He almost seemed smug about it, but I wasn't paying attention.

Now, here's the thing. I really wanted to talk about the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master. I mean… it's the tomb of _the_ First Spinjitzu Master. I sat down for hours to try to figure out what I could about it. Morro was using my body to go to it, which actually turned out to be in the ocean. I tried everything to remember something, anything about it. I wanted to figure out whatever I could. But… I couldn't. I was so exhausted by that point that I wasn't reading Morro's thoughts.

So… I'm instead going to skip right here towards the end that I do remember and just give a summary of what happened. The tomb was underwater and Morro had to go through three tests to get by. With the SoS, he was able to see the traps beforehand and get a clue as to how to solve them. Morro got by the first one in less than a minute and then went right on to the next one. While he was doing that, I think the ninja arrived. Morro sent one of his ghosts to kill the ninja in the trap he set for them, but Ronin saved them with his airship and then flew the ninja here. Morro had a head start on the ninja, and by the time he was in the third test, the ninja had started catching up to him. Morro fought them in a big maze of icicles that grew back when you cut them, and the ninja trapped him there using them. And then the ninja made it to the tomb.

Okay, okay. I know that until now, these chapters have been really confusing. I've been jumping between talking a lot about certain things and then not a lot and having to just summarize the rest. I didn't want to lie and make up what I felt, since so much of what happened was blocked off by Morro. I also didn't want to summarize everything and just make that. I promise that from now on, I was fully aware of what was happening. That's because when the ninja made it to what was inside the tomb, Morro finally unpossessed me for the last time.

Morro's goal this entire time had been something called the Realm Crystal. The ninja said that Morro needed it to unleash something called the Preeminent into Ninjago and curse it all, which was what that whole 'the world will be cursed!' thing the guard was talking about. Since the ninja had gotten to the tomb first, Morro decided that he wasn't going to do anything to screw this up. The first thing I remember happening was that feeling of having the world come rushing back to me, and then Morro was grabbing my and dragging me onto my feet. When I managed to open my eyes again, I was standing on top of a cliff beside a river inside of a massive cave. The ninja were below us and standing in front of the remains of the First Spinjitzu Master.

Now, one thing that I always found odd was that the FSM wasn't inside of any sort of casket. He was laying on a stone slab in the middle of weird blue symbols, holding the Realm Crystal in his hands. The ninja had taken the crystal. Morro dragged me forward and demanded that they give over the Realm Crystal to him, or else he'd throw me into the river. The river eventually went down to a massive waterfall that dropped into a massive cave so deep I don't know if I would have survived the fall.

I wanted to tell the ninja to let me fall and run off with the crystal. I was still hazy and didn't fully know what was going on, but I knew that I couldn't let Morro have his way. I had to stop Morro, somehow. The only thing was, I couldn't move. I felt helpless, just like I was in my head. I was exactly like I was there, actually: unable to move and unable to do anything but just weakly push on him. The ninja were seeing me exactly as I'd been this entire time: helpless.

Everything that happened after that was a blur. Kai did something to the Realm Crystal to make Morro drop it into the water when he caught it, and that was when Morro pushed me into the water. Or, maybe I pushed him first and then he pushed me in. I didn't have the energy to swim at all. I couldn't do anything but just flounder in the water. I kept going in and out, and in my state, I actually thought I was being possessed again. It felt exactly like it. I wasn't able to breathe, I was bobbing in and out of being able to think, and I was getting slowly closer to feeling my body giving up. I was being swept along and had no ability to do anything.

I was getting ready to give up. I couldn't do anything. Nothing. I was just, a dead weight in the water. I don't know when, but the crystal floated past me, I think. I wasn't paying attention. All I really cared about was that I felt about ready to drown, and I didn't know what to do. I just started feeling my body going numb again. I was so used to that I didn't even think that I was about to die. It was just like Morro. It was just like everything I'd felt.

Then… Kai jumped in. Kai can't swim, and he jumped in to save me. Throughout this entire time, Kai had been the one that came to save me. He held me up above the water long enough for me to start breathing again. I just remember seeing Kai's blurry face in my eyes. He was struggling to stay up, and couldn't stop us… but even then, he jumped in to save me without caring. Kai was there for me.. Again.

Right before we went over, Cole pulled us out. Since he was a ghost, he had to wait for the last minute so he didn't get wet. The Realm Crystal fell over the side, and I saw it happening and thought maybe we'd won. That was when I heard the wind start to make a strange noise. Morro used his power to retrieve the crystal and bring it back to him. I tried to drag myself towards him, but I couldn't do anything. The ninja had to stay behind to protect me. All I could do was hold back tears as I told them I was sorry.

The entire time they were dragging me out of the tomb, I was just saying that I was sorry over and over again. I'd failed them. I'd failed to stop Morro. I'd been fighting him that entire time and I had nothing to show for it. Morro had managed to stop us at every turn, even when we had the upper hand. I started crying at some point, and that was when Cole tried to hug me and I first saw that Cole was a ghost. It just didn't register a lot in my head at the time. (I'm saving talking about Cole for a few chapters still.)

Then… sunlight. I was dragged out into the sunlight. Mom and Wu were on the Bounty. The ninja had saved me. I still couldn't move, but I was finally back home. After everything that happened, I was home. And I was still upset. I kept telling the ninja that they lost because of me, but they refused to believe that. To them, they would win now that they had me. I didn't know if I could believe that, But the ninja were gaining their elemental powers back.

...Did I mention the ninja lost their elemental powers because I was possessed? I don't think I did, actually. Uhm. Yeah. So, remember how I said that my power was basically holding open the gateway that let the ninja use their powers? Well, when I was possessed I think that my power was sealed in me, so that meant that the ninja weren't connected to me anymore. That's the reason it was so important that I mentioned that earlier. Maybe I should go back and add that to the earlier chapters.

Anyways. The ninja dragged me onboard the bounty. I didn't even think of the rebuilt ship as home yet, and I was too happy to be there. I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stop feeling things and holding the pillow, just happy that I could actually be me again. It was just… it was just something I'd missed. Now that I felt what it was like to have no control, I wanted all of it back. I vowed I would never get possessed again. I couldn't get possessed again.

Of course, I was still barely able to move, and as soon as they laid me down I wasn't able to stay away for long. Mom came in and told me how happy and relieved she was to have me back. I don't remember anything else she said. The main thing I do remember, is that it was the first time that my mom tucked me in. She put a blanket around me and tucked me in, and told me to rest until I felt better. The last thing I remember before I passed out was her hugging me and telling me she would make sure nothing bad happened to me again.

Morro now had everything he needed to enact his plan. He had the Realm Crystal, the SoS and the scroll. We'd failed to stop him, and now he was going forward with his plan. The last hope we had was to make our play to put a stop to him once and for all. We had to stop him before he managed to use the grave setback he put on us to start cursing Ninjago.

I just really wish that those guys in Cloud Kingdom had decided to cut us a break for once.

* * *

"Uh…" Lloyd looked down at the meal in front of him, "Are… you sure I did it right?"

"You followed the recipe, right?" Kai asked. Lloyd nodded, prompting Kai to shrug, "Then there shouldn't be a problem."

Lloyd looked down at the food he'd made. It was meant to be a simple meal of chicken and dumplings, but for some reason it didn't look like it. It looked far too lumpy, the color of the sauce was off, and the chicken was a bit more pink than he thought it should be. Kai, however, was giving him an encouraging smile, and so Lloyd nervously picked up his fork.

"Well… let's try it," Lloyd gulped, then reached down to take a bite. As soon as he had it swallowed, he blinked in confusion, "It's… good."

"See! I told you!" Kai put his arm around Lloyd, "Cooking isn't that hard. You're not making your own new dishes, so all you have to do is follow the recipes. It's like I told Nya when she started learning: as long as you follow the directions, it'll turn out great."

"Yeah… I guess that you're right," Lloyd smiled gently, "So… you taught Nya how to cook too?"

"Kinda," Kai admitted, "I think she saw how tired I was after some rush orders from clients, so she wanted to cook to try to take some of the burden off me. I showed her how to work everything in the kitchen, and after just a few tries she was able to get the hang of it on her own. It was kinda nice not having to worry about it."

"And, you were taking care of Nya, while you were also running that shop too?" Lloyd asked, "I… never realized just how much you did, Kai."

"Well, I didn't have a choice," Kai sat back, "Both mom and dad were gone. One day they were there and then the next day they weren't there. We ran out of the money they left us really quickly, and the babysitters wouldn't come and help us without getting paid. After I heard that we had to either start making money or close the shop, I did what I had to do."

"Just like that?" Lloyd asked in shock, "You just, got up one day and started doing all of the blacksmithing and housework?"

"Nya was too young to help me back then," Kai admitted, "I'd picked up a bit from my dad, so I studied up on how to do all the rest and figured it out from there. It only took me a few days to start doing orders good enough for all those guys to stop asking about it. Plus, managing money isn't that hard when you just have to pay for food and some new equipment every once in awhile. We got scammed pretty badly once, and after that I figured out how much I was worth and figured out how to take the best jobs for the most money."

"...But, the others said you were a terrible negotiator," Lloyd pointed out.

"I was really stressed then!" Kai protested, "And that was really Zane's fault, since he was the leader at that point!"

"Heh… yeah," Lloyd chuckled a bit, finding his thoughts soon dragged down by a thought, "You're, a lot more responsible than I thought you were, Kai."

"Wait, what did you _think_ I was?" Kai asked pointedly.

"Uh…" Lloyd suddenly felt nervous, "I mean, it's just, you don't always act like you know exactly what you're doing and, uh, I just never saw you as someone that, cooked and stuff."

"That's because all of you guys started doing that," Kai pointed out with a frown, "If I try to clean then I usually get in someone's way, and Zane basically does all the cooking now. Nya's all grown up too, so it isn't like she needs me to take care of her. I just put all my focus on training now."

"Right…" Lloyd nodded his head, "Thanks, Kai."

"Thanks?" Kai cocked his head, "Thanks for what?"

"For… you know, just being there for me," Lloyd smiled, "Even if sometimes you don't always seem like it."

"Hey, what are you trying to say?" Kai asked with a protesting tone. Lloyd gave Kai a small smile in response, pouring out some of his food into a bowl to slide over to Kai.

"Maybe you should cook more often," Lloyd smiled, "If you could teach me, you can surely cook for all of us."

"Well... " Kai shrugged, "Only if Zane doesn't want to. I don't want to take over the kitchen."

"Trust me," Lloyd smiled warmly, "The last thing you'd be doing is taking over."


	28. The Preeminent's Preamble

(I have to thank Jay for the title to this chapter. He said it as a joke at dinner once and it's a really good title for what was about to happen next.)

Since the Preeminent's invasion of Ninjago is such a big event, I'm not going to bother here acting like we actually managed to stop it from emerging. Morro's plan was too airtight. Morro made sure to put just enough between us and him that by the time that we got the chance to potentially stop him, it was too late anyways. That wasn't to say that we didn't try, but it means that when I think back on this I get angry that one of our best plans was one that failed badly. After awhile it just seems like we shouldn't make any plans at all given how few actually work.

I was still going in and out of being unconscious while on the Bounty. It was a long flight back to Steep Wisdom, meaning I had just enough time to actually get back up to a point I could fight again. Morro had actually taken good care of my body, which I know is because he needed it to be exactly as he wanted it whenever he needed it. Still, it was better than I could have been left in. Morro had just pushed my body to its limits physically and not like,, starved me. It was the best case scenario, the more I think about it.

When I was finally able to start moving around again, I was still in that state of being way too happy that I wasn't actually possessed like that anymore. I was able to feel things. Just running my hand against the bed felt…. It just felt way better than before. Thankfully I wasn't feeling things too hard, since that would have made everything to happen afterwards even harder than it already was. I was soon able to move around again and start talking with the other ninja.

I told them everything I knew about Morro. I told them about Morro's memories, about what he'd done to my head, about what his plans were that I got… I think I just kept talking. I kept talking and talking. None of them ever stopped me. I think they were just too happy to have me back, and I was too happy to have my friends back with me too. I think at some point I stopped talking about Morro and just talked about random things that had been going on inside my head. They still didn't stop me.

One thing that shocked me was actually seeing my mother with them. Mom never got involved in things like this. I mean, during both the Golden Master and Chen stuff, she stayed behind until the last possible minute. If I didn't know that she'd been trained by Wu and my dad, I would kinda understand that, but she knew how to fight and hold her own. It just meant that it was weird whenever she decided to come with us. Seeing her actually there felt good, though. It was just another person that I wanted to see after everything that happened.

The thing was, Morro didn't waste any time in his plan. I was still passed out when he went to Stiix and began his takeover using the Realm Crystal. I heard about it from the ninja watching the news when I was finally strong enough to climb the stairs again. In less than twenty minutes, Morro had unleashed enough ghosts to completely take over Stiix. I wasn't surprised he chose that place to do the plan either, since I already knew he had a base there in Ronin's old shop. Still, it went a long way in telling us that the Realm Crystal was both incredibly powerful, and dangerous. At that point, the Realm Crystal was just a tool that Morro had, and we had to stop it.

Zane told us that, through his analysis of the crystal, the energy inside the crystal likely derived from the FSM himself. That meant that the crystal would likely only be able to be destroyed by overloading it with power that was from the same source; that meant that my Green Power was the closest thing that we had to it. The theory was that I could pour my power into the crystal and eventually overload it into breaking. I've always wondered if maybe I had combined the crystal and my powers in different ways I could do new things with it. Maybe I'd get to go places other than the Sixteen Realms? It might be cool to see how that goes.

Now, this meant two things: that we would have to get me close enough to Morro to destroy the crystal, and that I had to face Morro again. To be honest, I didn't expect that it would work. Just from the footage, it looked like Morro had gotten an entire army to do his bidding for him. The Preeminent needed certain safeguards, I remember him saying in my head, and that was why he not only kept the SoS, but also made sure to surround Stiix with an army for the sole purpose of protecting her until she could come into Ninjago.

Now, the Preeminent itself is the Cursed Realm. The big monster that was inside Ninjago that you've all seen in the photos was the Cursed Realm itself. It's sort of like if you took the planet that Ninjago is on and instead thought of the planet like something else. Imagine that the planet we were on was actually a dragon. And then that dragon was sent into another realm. What I'm trying to say is that the Preeminent was a manifestation of the Cursed Realm, meaning once she got into Ninjago she'd be able to start cursing it to be just like her.

Obviously, we couldn't let that happen. When I saw Stiix swamped like that, I felt two things. The first was guilt. I felt guilty that I'd let this happen. I hadn't fought Morro hard enough, and I'd been so exhausted by the time that the ninja rescued me I let Morro get the Realm Crystal. In a way, everything that was happening to Stiix was all my fault. I was upset that I'd failed Ninjago again. It was just like the Golden Master. I'd failed to stop someone from taking something from me, though in this case it was more like I failed to stop them from getting something.

The other thing that I felt was anger. I wasn't angry at the situation, though. Normally I get angry because of something that happened meaning I failed. But, this time it wasn't like this. I wasn't angry that I'd failed to stop Morro, I was angry _at_ Morro. I was angry at Morro because I knew that he was doing this to be the Green Ninja.

Morro had asked me why I was the Green Ninja. I didn't know what to say at first. At that point, I still didn't have the answer. It was eating at me, because I knew that the answer to that question was the reason Morro was doing all of this. I was angry that Morro thought that, somehow, hurting people like this was what it meant to be the Green Ninja. I knew that Morro didn't see himself as the villain here. I knew that he didn't even think that he was responsible for whatever was happening to the people! He was doing the Preeminent's bidding, and he didn't care because it meant he could get at his own goal. Morro wanting to be the Green Ninja was entirely separate from whatever the Preeminent wanted. They just happened to have their goals line up.

When we arrived back at Steep Wisdom, I knew that I had to answer that question. It'd been knocking around in my head, and I had to make it stop. I couldn't go and face Morro again knowing that he could rattle me. The way he'd possessed me the first time was by rattling me with my memories. I couldn't let that happen again. I refused to let Morro possess me again, and I wouldn't let him beat me. I had to do something to make sure whatever fight I went into with him was one that I knew I could handle.

That was when I sat down with Kai. As we were landing, I knew that once we geared up we wouldn't have time to stop and think. I needed my head sorted out before we started all of this. I told Kai that I needed him to answer something for me. He didn't get it at first, but I didn't care. I asked him why he thought that I was chosen to be the Green Ninja. Between the two of us, Kai had wanted to be the Green Ninja more than anyone. He wanted to take up the title, and yet for some reason destiny chose me. I didn't care what the people in Cloud Kingdom thought. I didn't care what destiny thought. I wanted to know why my friends thought I was their leader.

Kai's answer didn't even take him long to think of. I don't know why, but hearing it just… confused me. He told me that it was because I was his friend. When he rescued me from the lava, he felt that I was important. He said that he felt that between us, I was going to become someone important. And as I'd grown up, I'd become more than just an ally to Kai. I was his friend, his teammate… his brother. I was the Green Ninja… because I was their family.

That didn't make sense to me. How could he have known that? I don't think he did. I think Kai was telling me exactly what he felt now. He saw me as the Green Ninja because I was his family. I was someone that he'd fought beside, faced death beside and put everything on the line for. That meant that the two of us were closer than any normal team was. He also said if I asked any of the others, they'd say the same thing. I was more than the Green Ninja to them. I was family.

That wasn't exactly what I came to myself. But it was important. To me, that told me that no matter what happened, I was going to have my friends by my side. I was going to go and stop Morro not because I was some sort of Green Ninja, but because it was something I had to do. And I wasn't going to go and do that alone either. The others had saved me. They'd given up the Realm Crystal just to save me. To them, I was more important than whatever plan Morro had. As long as we had each other, we could go and stop them no matter what.

Maybe that hit home for me more because Morro had been spending all the time he could trying to tear me down inside my own head. Maybe it just hurt more because I was so tired from fighting that I needed to hear someone tell me that I wasn't alone anymore. I'd been giving it my all and getting nowhere because I was alone. And now… now I was going to go and fight again with people behind me. It was the same thing that got me to keep moving again when I first went to face my father on the Dark Island for real. The fact my friends were with me, the fact that they actually have saved me… it just meant a lot to me.

By the time we finished, the Bounty had landed back at Steep Wisdom, which we now learned had been sold. That's a big reason that I find the entire idea of Wu retiring at that point so weird. If he'd been serious about retiring, then he wouldn't have sold the shop. I get that he needed money, but Wu hadn't even had the place open for a month! I forgot about the shop just like I forgot about the school. It's almost like anything Wu tries to open just sort of dies after something happens. If Wu was serious about it, he should have at least had some plan in place for disaster happening…

That was also the first time that I'd seen Borg in months, too. Borg showed up saying that he'd usd the money from the sold shop to build us new vehicles. Well, everyone but me and Kai. Borg said he got too carried away making the other vehicles to make one for Kai, then told me he didn't think I was going to make it back. I was kinda upset that Borg didn't have faith in me. I'd gotten back from much worse, and Morro had never wanted me dead during all of that time until the very end. In fact, Morro specifically had reason to keep me alive. The way he said it made it sound like he thought I wasn't coming back at all. But it didn't matter, since we now had a way into Stiix.

This was also when I learned for the first time that Nya was training to become the Master of Water. I hate to say it, but the first thing that came to mind with me was that Chen's spell had apparently been missing two elements, since Morro was in the Cursed Realm and Nya didn't know about her powers yet. It was only after I thought that when it sank into me that Nya was training to stop being Samurai X now. I'm going to talk about Nya next chapter, since that's where it really gets important. (I'm really pushing off talking about things).

Nya came up with a plan that revolved around her. Morro was fixated on the Green Ninja, so we'd use that to our advantage. Apparently, aside from the obvious, Nya and I have very similar body types. That meant that once Nya put on my ninja suit with a bit of wraps, it was almost impossible to tell us apart. I don't know why, but that kinda made me a little embarrassed. I know that I'm not the biggest guy, but I never thought that a girl could pass for me. I guess, it just never really occurred to me? I wonder if that means I could pass for a girl…? Not that I'd ever try! I mean, unless a mission called for it, but, I wouldn't try that for real!

Uhm. So, the plan was pretty simple, really. The ninja would sneak into Stiix and lay low while Wu and Misako were captured to draw Morro's attention. Nya would use her disguise to draw away all the ghosts from Ronin's shop so I could sneak in and destroy the crystal. Of all the plans we've come up with, that one actually made a lot of sense. Morro would first be distracted with Wu, giving Wu a chance to make a final plea to Morro. Once Wu and Misako were captured, Morro would then be drawn to Nya and of course want to take me down. That was the perfect excuse for me to sneak in. Again, it was a great plan!

On the way over to Stiix, I was preparing myself mentally. I knew that if I faced Morro again, I couldn't let him possess me. From what I'd figured out by being possessed twice, if I was strong and kept my thoughts from wandering, I could keep him out. It was like keeping an annoying song out of your didn't end up trying to possess me, but he did try to rattle me, which is what I was planning for.

That evening, we began our plan. It felt different from any other time we'd been trying a plan before. This was us having to sneak into Morro's stronghold when he held all the cards. It wasn't like the Golden Master where we were literally breaking into the city, or anything like Chen. This was us having to actually be ninja and go up against someone that could easily crush us. We were at a massive disadvantage, and the clock was ticking. Morro was going to unleash the Preeminent when the crystal was ready, and at that point we had already lost.

When we got to Stiix, I hid under the supports and waited. The ghosts didn't dare get close to the water, so I just stayed quiet and waited by the water. I was there for hours. I was just waiting, waiting for someone to finally give me the signal. The entire time, I was thinking more. What Kai had told me about the Green Ninja, what Morro had told me in my head, what had happened the entire time that I was possessed, it was all going through my head. This was my chance to finally start fighting from the outside again. I could finally stop Morro. I could put an end to this, and I was going to be the one to do it.

The thing is, while I was preparing, there was one thing that I wasn't thinking of. It didn't occur to me at all while I was waiting. Morro had drawn my thoughts to being the Green Ninja for so long that I never even realized that there was someone in the Cursed Realm that I cared about. It was someone that Morro had even already taunted me with. I could have figured that out if I'd just stopped thinking about everything else. It was a card that Morro hadn't played to me yet, and it was going to cost me.

When Kai gave me the signal, that meant Nya had been spotted. I heard some ghost dragons above roaring, which told me I didn't have much time. I leapt up onto the platforms and made my way through Stiix. That was actually the first time I was there and aware of it, and I remember that it was probably one of the most nerve-wracking places I'd ever been. That was more so due to the ghosts everywhere, but it didn't help that Stiix was so… backwater. The entire place felt grimy and dirty, and more than once I thought I was gonna fall through the planks. I don't know how anybody stood living there, which seemed to explain why Ronin did.

Kai helped to guide me through Stiix. I could see the tower. There were ghosts everywhere. Jay came around the corner in his new car to suck some of them up, and Cole took out an entire group of them with his bike. Zane was leaping on the rooftops on his mech and making sure ghosts didn't get close enough to us. Eventually, Kai was forced to stay behind too. I had to keep going. I was getting closer and closer. Soon, I could hear the sound of Nya fighting. I was close. I rounded the corner to see Morro standing over Nya and getting ready to attack. That was when I drew his attention.

I didn't need to do that. In fact, if I had just snuck by all of that, I would have been able to complete the mission. But… I'd readied myself for that moment. This was the first time that the two of us were going to fight in person. This entire time, I'd been fighting Morro as just a voice inside of his head. Now, I was going to show him how strong I could be when the two of us were fighting for real. And Morro was ready to prove that he was the Green Ninja.

Before we started fighting, Morro had stolen my hood and claimed that meant that he was now the Green Ninja. He had the gi, and clearly that meant that he was stronger. He was stronger than me, and that he always had been. Him taking my gi and becoming the Green Ninja was his way of proving it. Morro didn't need to just be the Green Ninja, though. He needed to defeat me. He needed to prove to me that I was never going to be as strong as him. He needed to show me that I was weak to prove that he was strong. Destiny had chosen me, and now he had to defy destiny by defying me.

Morro ripped apart the entire tower with wind just to prove his point. He ripped it apart until only the room that the Realm Crystal was in was still whole. Everything else he was using to put distance between me and him. He wanted me to go to him. As I started to make the climb up to him, he wasn't letting up on trying to tear me down. I was weak because I needed others. He was inside my head and knew what I was afraid of. He knew I needed others. I needed them. Morro didn't need anybody. He'd taken the ninja down all on his own.

I kept climbing. I wasn't listening. I couldn't. I wasn't thinking much. I had told myself I wouldn't let Morro rattle me, and this was me proving it. I refused to show Morro what I was thinking. He was just going to try to stop me, so I wasn't listening. I even went as far as to do Airjitzu. I'd stolen all of the technique from his head, and that was the first time I'd ever managed to do it. I couldn't let Morro just keep doing that to me.

Everything that Morro had done was to undermine me. Morro wanted to prove that I wasn't worthy of my title. It didn't matter how hard I'd fought. I'd given up almost everything to be where I was. I'd given up my childhood, my family, and some chances at peace just to be able to be where I was. Morro didn't care. I could have given up everything and everyone and it wouldn't be enough for him. He hadn't fought the way I had. He hadn't pushed the way I had. I'd given everything to be the Green Ninja. I was worthy of the title. Destiny gave it to me, but I'd pushed to be it! It didn't' matter why I was the Green Ninja, I'd worked to make sure that I lived up to that title. I was the Green Ninja!

Morro threw me down. He blasted me right off the side and forced me to cling to a piece of floating wood. He leapt down and was ready to finish me off. He knew that if he did that, it was over. If he struck down the previous Green Ninja, somehow that made him it too. It would prove everything that Wu told him wrong, and everything he told me right. I couldn't fight back against him. No matter what I said in my head, when I was alone like this… I couldn't win.

That was when Ronin showed up. Ronin took every piece of coin he'd saved up and then dumped it right on top of Morro and the remains of his shop. He picked saving me, saving Ninjago, over saving himself. The coins were heavy enough they pushed the Realm Crystal back down to Stiix.

The action meant that I had a chance. What Morro said about me wasn't true. I had allies, family, and that meant that I had a chance. I could win as long as I had them beside me. I didn't waste the chance. I scrambled into the room and saw the Realm Crystal on the table. I reached out and grabbed hold of it. I could feel the raw power inside of it. It felt like I was holding a storm, all contained inside of one small crystal. It reminded me some of the Golden Power, and that meant Zane. As Morro was still catching up, I started to pour my power into the crystal to break it.

I heard Morro scream. I'd never heard Morro sound so desperate before. I turned around to see him staring at me, looking at me with a pleading look. Morro had never barely ever shown fear whenever he was in my head. Now, he was begging me to stop. In that moment, I felt a sense of victory. After everything that happened, Morro was finally the one that was begging me to stop. Finally, I had the chance to show Morro how strong I was. I told him exactly what I felt, that he couldn't have the crystal because the FSM never wanted any of us to have it. It was never meant to be used like this. And for those few seconds that Morro was at my mercy… I finally felt strong for the first time in weeks.

Then… Morro mentioned my father.

I've talked before about how there are moments I've hesitated and caused a lot of issues. All of this time, I'd been focused on what it meant to be the Green Ninja. I'd been fixated on what Morro had been telling me, manipulating me. I hadn't realized that my father was inside the Cursed Realm. It was a fact that I'd accepted. It was like how I accepted his death by moving forward. I'd come to agree with it, but not actually process it.

Morro figured that out. He'd already been in my head. I thought that I had a chance, but I didn't. Morro had just been waiting for the minute he needed to actually pull that trick on me. It was just like what Chen did, but this time by someone that knew me too well. All Morro had to do was mention that my father was in the Cursed Realm, waiting for me, and that if I did this then I'd never get to see him again. I had the chance to see him again.

...I knew that my dad wouldn't want me to hesitate. I knew that if he was in my position, he would do everything to keep Ninjago safe. I even told Morro that. But… it didn't matter. All this time I'd been pushing forward without trying to come to terms with what happened to him. I wasn't thinking about how my father was gone, I had just accepted it. And the fact I hadn't accepted him meant that I hesitated to destroy the crystal.

That was all that Morro needed. My hesitation caused the Preeminent to reach through the portal and drag me into the Cursed Realm. It happened so fast that all I could feel was a single ping of shame before it happened. The tentacle dragged me away, and Morro took hold of the crystal. The ninja watched as I was taken away. I'd failed them. I'd failed everyone.

The Preeminent had arrived, and I was about to be dragged into it. It was time for Ninjago to have its first encounter with another realm. The preamble had given way to the Preeminent.

* * *

Lloyd rubbed his hands together. Kai leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed as he listened to Lloyd. Lloyd looked around the room nervously, trying to think of something to say. Nothing seemed to come to mind, which left him just silently sitting there with Kai across from him.

"What's up?" Kai asked finally to break the silence, "You haven't asked if that was all good or not yet."

"Nothing," Lloyd sighed, "I just… I just kinda forgot how much Morro got to me. And… how it's my fault that everything with Stiix, happened that way. It's… it's just a lot, you know?"

"That wasn't your fault," Kai pointed out, "All of us were there. We could have found a way in and helped you. And we stopped him and saved everyone, so what's the problem?"

"We let an entire city get destroyed!" Lloyd protested, "I was holding the Realm Crystal! Morro was right there begging me not to! I could have ended all of it. We could have just, captured Morro right there! But… but I let him… I let my dad…"

Lloyd's words trailed off. He leaned forward, putting his forearms on his thighs to hold himself up. He shook his head a few times, trying to clear his thoughts. The more he did, however, the more he was letting himself tangle up in them. He felt tears welling up in his eyes, ones that he desperately tried to push away.

"I could have stopped him, Kai!" Lloyd got out, "I could have saved him. I got myself ready for anything Morro said to me, and somehow I let him just throw me off like that? It was the same way he got into my head! I did everything I could to get ready for him and he still made me freeze. I never had a chance to stop him if I was going to hesitate like that. Morro just knew exactly what to say, he was in my head, Kai. I couldn't beat him, even when I was…."

Kai reached out and wrapped his arm around Lloyd. Lloyd took in a breath as Kai pulled him in close into a side hug. He reached up with his other hand, and for a moment Lloyd closed his eyes to let Kai rub his head. Then Kai instead started rubbing his fist right into Lloyd's scalp, causing him to gasp and shake as Kai's hug turned into a grip.

"Come on, don't get so down on me!" Kai grinned, "You saved Ninjago, no need to be crying like this!"

Lloyd soon managed to worm his way out of Kai's grasp, and Kai didn't move to grab him again. Lloyd rubbed his now sore head and brushed his hair back into place while Kai sat back down. Lloyd looked at him in confusion, which only made Kai shrug.

"...I, I can't help but feel like it was my fault, Kai," Lloyd mumbled, "I didn't want Morro to… I don't know what I call it. Die again, I guess? I just wanted to show him that I was strong enough to be the Green Ninja. I never wanted him to be hurt."

"What happened with Morro happened though," Kai pointed out, "You didn't make Morro choose what he did. You just did what you had to do. Morro went down his own path, you went down yours. You gotta just worry about you, Lloyd."

Lloyd nodded his head softly. Kai, seeing that Lloyd wasn't going to budge like this, stood up again. Lloyd flinched, thinking Kai was about to noogie him again, but instead Kai grabbed his hand and yanked him up to his feet. Lloyd blinked in confusion, meeting Kai's confident smirk.

"Chin up, champ," Kai turned around and tugged him towards the door, "I asked Zane tonight if we could cook. You've been practicing, I think you're ready to make someone for everyone."

"W-What?" Lloyd stammered out, "W-Wait! Just because my last meal was good doesn't mean I can cook again!"

"Course it does," Kai pointed out, "Now come on, everyone is gonna get hungry soon. If you need something to take your mind off all this, this is it!"

Lloyd couldn't argue with Kai. Instead, he let Kai quickly drag him off to the kitchen, ready to test out a new skill he hadn't even thought he'd be testing yet. He was forced to leave behind the negative thoughts of the chapter as they instead turned to the nervous feeling of this new test of skill.


	29. The True Green Ninja

After being pulled into the Cursed Realm, I passed out. I'm not sure why, but it seems that whenever you cross realms you pass out. It might also have been that I was dragged through a portal by a massive slimy tentacle and then thrown down onto a rocky ground. I know the ninja said they passed out when they went over to Cloud Kingdom, and I know the first thing I remember doing after I was yanked into the portal was waking up.

I didn't stay very long inside the Cursed Realm, but I remember everything I saw. The entire place felt like the inside of some massive creature. There was no sun or anything like it, and all the light came from pulsing green mist that kept being blown out from the walls. The ground was solid rock, and it led in all different directions. The rocks reached up the walls like some sort of rib cage, making it so wherever I was, I was still inside of a cave. The air tasted bad, and just taking one breath was like inhaling ash near a fire. When I walked around, the air also felt incredibly thick, so each step meant I had to force myself to walk forward. The more I looked around, the more I saw ghosts that were flying around above me, making me the only person on the ground.

When I started moving, I realized that I was in the middle of strange balls of rock that acted like cages. There were people inside of them, and I think a few of them were the cultists that were dragged into the Cursed Realm. I didn't see Chen, but I had a feeling that I might have passed him at some point. The ghosts above me hadn't noticed me, and I wanted to get moving so they didn't get a chance to. Seeing all of the ghosts trapped in cages, I guess since I was there by the Realm Crystal, I wasn't cursed into becoming a ghost like the cultists.

The entire place felt sick to me, and the longer I stayed the worse I felt. It was like I really was swallowed up by some massive creature that was made of rock inside of flesh. I kept running for a long time. The ghosts never did notice me, and I was going in the opposite direction of the majority of them. They were leaving to find the exit to the Cursed Realm the Preeminent gave them. If you see that giant hole on the Preeminet's face, that's where they were going. I never even realized just how many people went to the Cursed Realm until I saw how many ghosts were heading out. I have no idea how so many of them were even sent there. I guess maybe it has something to do with if you do something wrong in your life, you get cursed. I didn't care and I still don't like to think about it. I was trying to make sure I didn't get spotted by them.

Everywhere I went, the walls behind the large rocky structures pulsed and throbbed. I was worried that I was going to be stuck there. I had to get somewhere. I had to do something. I really don't know why it was that I actually was running. I was just looking for something to do to save myself. I wanted to get away from all of these ghosts. I had just been dragged into the Cursed Realm, it wasn't like I was thinking clearly. I barely even remembered anything that had happened before I was dragged into the Cursed Realm, that's how panicked I was.

Then, I started to notice the light was getting more distinct. I was even seeing a bit more of white light rather than the green light that was everywhere. I started following it. I must have been sent to some sort of prison section for people like Chen, since the cages that I saw just started to get bigger and bigger. I could hear things behind them growling at me as I ran by, but I didn't take time to look at them. I was trying to follow that light. I wanted to get away from everything, not take time and look around. The air was getting thinner the longer that I ran, making it easier to move and breathe. I didn't know why, but it felt like I was heading somewhere important.

Some ghosts spotted me, so I ran even faster. By then, I was almost at my breaking point. I was about to collapse when I noticed that the ground sloped upwards and led to a large cavern up ahead. I heard the ghosts behind me, so I kept going. I wasn't even thinking of where I was going. I didn't have time to regret what had happened to me, or think about the fact that Morro was now in Ninjago all alone. I had to just get somewhere, and get there fast.

Then, I saw the ground sloped downwards. I looked down and saw I was at the dead end of wherever I was. I really was in some sort of prison. At the bottom of the path was the one person I didn't expect to see. It was the one person that I didn't realize I wanted to see. When I saw him, I didn't even believe it was him. It was the man that I had prayed that I'd be allowed to see one last time, the man that Morro had taunted me with. For some reason, he wasn't a snake nor a ghost, but I didn't (and still don't) care about that.

I was staring at my father, chained up, right in front of me.

… Morro. If there is one thing that I want to thank you for, it's the chance that I got to see my father again. The man that was chained up at the very end, the deepest part of the prisoners, was my father.

When I saw him, I felt those raw emotions that Morro had dredged up inside me when he first possessed me. All of that time I'd been trying to move past my father felt like it never happened. When I saw him, it was everything I could do not to cry. I felt like my world had just shattered, and in a way it had since I was standing in a completely new one. The man that I thought I'd banished for good, was standing right in front of me.

I think… I think the reason that I was able to fully move past my father's demise was because of this moment. When people talk about getting closure, they often say they come to some sort of realization, or they figure something out, or they just have something happen that makes them finally understand it all. All of those months, I'd just been telling myself I was okay. After Zane, after the team broke up, I thought that I had all of this under control. I told myself I was better than that, and I didn't need to mourn like I had with Zane. My dad hadn't died, he'd been cursed and sent away where I'd never see him again. It was so much easier to think when I told myself that he wasn't gone, I just wouldn't see him again. Now, I was seeing him again, and I couldn't feel any happier than in my entire life.

My dad only asked me once why I was here before I threw my arms around him. I missed him so much, I didn't know what I could even say. Whenever I tried to talk at first, I'd just start crying. My dad was chained up so his arms were pulled out, so he couldn't hug me back, but I didn't care. It was actually him. I felt his robes as I hugged him, I heard his breath on my back as I just kept hugging him. I couldn't believe it. Everything in me just was all coming up at the same time, like some sort of big eruption I didn't know could happen.

I don't know how long I was sitting there hugging him for. It felt like just long enough for me to be able to speak again. My dad of course asked why I was there, and I told him that Morro had unleashed the Preeminent. Dad confirmed that I was indeed inside the 'belly of the beast,' as he called it. I tried to break the chains, but they were made never to let go. I think dad said that they were meant to hold him there until the day he stopped living, but his life was frozen in place inside the Cursed Realm so he could serve out his punishment he'd taken on.

For a bit, I tried to just be happy that I had my dad again. I couldn't free him, and I knew that I didn't have time to. But, eventually I remembered why I was here. I told dad that now Morro was the Green Ninja. I don't know why I said it that way, but I did. For some reason, I'd started believing Morro when he said that if he defeated me, he was stronger and clearly meant to be the Green Ninja. I'd given it my all to try to stop him, and it hadn't been enough. When it came down to it… I froze. Just like always.

At first, my dad told me that I couldn't give up because Ninjago depended on me. That wasn't what I needed to hear. I was feeling more and more guilty. I felt upset that I was even getting this distracted while having my once and only chance to reunite with my father, but I'd been thrown in there because I failed. My dad told me that I couldn't give up, and then I said it again. I said I wasn't the Green Ninja anymore. Somehow… seeing Morro holding onto my gi made me somehow believe that I'd really lost it all.

"It was never the color of your gi, it was the color of your heart," That was what my dad told me about why I was the Green Ninja. It wasn't the person that I became, but the person that I was inside. That's what I thought my dad was trying to tell me. When he told me that, it reminded me of what Kai had told me. If someone else had said that, I wouldn't have listened. With my father telling me that, the man that I'd become the Green Ninja for, I started to get my answer to Morro's question.

Why was I the Green Ninja? I was the Green Ninja because destiny knew that I would one day be willing to put my family and life on the line to save it. No matter how destiny played out, I would have one day come to save Ninjago. Who I was as a person… who Lloyd Garmadon was, he would do whatever it takes to save Ninjago. It wasn't because I said I had to, or because I thought I was strong enough to. Destiny chose me because I was willing to put my faith in family. And when I had my family by my side, no matter what happened, I would also rise to the challenge.

Once I realized that, I felt my doubts start to strip away. Everything that Morro had used to tear me down started to sound more and more like petty insults. Morro had given me the chance to see my father, and now I had the confidence I needed to go and save Ninjago. I now had what I needed to say that I could be the Green Ninja and take back my gi from Morro. I told my dad I could do it, and I was about to say more when he told me that I had to destroy the Cursed Realm to stop the Preeminent.

When I heard that, I realized what that meant. If the Cursed Realm was destroyed, everyone in it would be. The chains were unbreakable, and my father wasn't going to be able to come with me. If what my dad told me was what I had to do, that meant that I had to condemn not only the Cursed Realm to death… but my father too.

If this had been before the Dark Island, I would never have agreed to it. If it had been before Zane, I wouldn't have been able to make my choice to do that in time. But after having already banished my father, I was being asked to take one more step. I felt sick hearing that, and the fact my dad had said it was even worse. But because my father said it, I was able to once again accept it. No matter what happened, my father wanted me to be the one to put him to rest.

My dad gave me his robes and told me that he would always be with me, no matter what happened. As I put them on, my dad told me that every boy had to become a man at some point. I had to choose what type of man I was. With my father's robes on me, I felt like I had a piece of him with me. It was a symbol of me finally moving past everything that happened to me. From the moment that I stepped onto the Dark Island to that very moment, everything had been connected to my father. Now, I was finally going to move past him with his blessing. It was there and then that I made my vow to ensure that the Cursed Realm, one way or another, was destroyed.

I shared one last hug with my father. I'd never seen my dad cry before, but he did. He told me it wasn't because he was afraid to die, as he'd come to terms with that fact for a long while. Instead, he was just so proud that I'd finally grown into the man that I was always meant to be. Once I parted ways with him, I turned and began running all the way back. The first step that I took felt like I was weighed down with a hundred chains, but with each step it got easier. My father shouted at me to remember that he loved me, and no matter what he would watch over me. If I was to be what finally did him in, then he was proud that it would be someone like me that did it. I was crying as I ran away, but I wasn't sad anymore.

I fought my way past all the ghosts that tried to stop me. Nothing could stop me anymore. Morro had felt invincible when he went out to become the Green Ninja. Now that I had finally accepted myself again as the Green Ninja, I felt that too. I knew, however, that I couldn't rely on that feeling. I had to make it back to my friends. Once I showed them I was okay, I could give them the strength they needed to continue the fight.

I saw the massive opening the ghosts were jumping through. On the other side, I could see Stiix. I fought past a few more ghosts, and realized the second I leapt through that hole, I was going to be committed to saving Ninjago. Once I leapt out of the Cursed Realm, I was going to finally have to say goodbye to my father. I didn't hesitate. I couldn't stop the Preeminent before, but this time I wouldn't stop. Now, there was no way Morro was going to get inside of my head.

When I emerged into Stiix, I landed on the rooftops to see Ronin fighting Morro with the SoS. Just as Morro was about to reclaim the sword, I swooped in and took it. I saw my friends nearby, all fighting for the people. I looked back to see the massive thing that I'd come out of, but I didn't feel any fear. For once in my life I wasn't afraid of Morro. I ordered the ninja to sink the Preeminent into the ocean while I challenged Morro.

The battle that happened between me and Morro is one that I remember very vividly. I know each and every kick that we threw. I can even recall the feeling of Morro using the Realm Crystal to teleport around me and attack me. But it was more than that to me. I remember that fight, because it was my chance to prove to Morro that I was indeed strong enough to be the Green Ninja. I wasn't a scared little kid being thrown around inside my head. I was a man that was going to stand up to someone that was going to take my family away from me.

As the Preeminent began to fall into the ocean from the ninja breaking the supports, Morro tried to teleport behind me again. That was when I leapt into the portal just before it closed. I made a split second decision that changed the entire battle. The two of us were falling from the sky in some strange place that looked like suspended pillars of rocks and bone over a pit of lava. The ninja told me later that it was the Underworld. Morro and I were about to visit more Realms than anyone in all of Ninjago.

Spiders came down to try to attack me, and while I held them off with the SoS, Morro realized that he didn't have to fight me if he could just leave me stranded in another realm. Thus, whenever Morro opened a portal, I had to follow him. I started to realize that our battle wasn't going to be about who outlasted the other. It was going to be about who made it back to Ninjago to either save or stop the Preeminent.

Whenever one of us got the crystal, we would open a random portal and jump through to try to get away as fast as possible. I refused to let Morro have the SoS, knowing if he got it I had already lost the fight. I admit that the SoS is probably my favorite sword that I've ever used. It's super handy, and it saved me from being left behind a few times by seeing what Morro was about to do. Each portal we jumped through made us have to think fast to try to get ahead. The two of us were in the middle of a true fight to the last man standing.

We kept going from place to place. We were standing in the middle of a mountain in a world with a black sky. I raced and got hold of the crystal and soon we were falling through the sky in Cloud Kingdom. It was actually the longest I'd gotten a chance to look at it. Then we were falling in the middle of this weird place, and some weird animal people looked at us as we fought. Morro opened another portal, and then we were sent sprawling across this big dessert where a dragon landed and tried to attack us. We grappled and another portal sent us into a strange place that looked like one massive palace. We kept flying between the realms, each portal taking us further and further away from Ninjago.

Finally, the two of us were back in Cloud Kingdom, fighting on top of the tallest tower. Morro told me that no matter what happened, I'd never be able to stop him. I was about to swing the SoS at him to try to cleave the Realm Crystal out of his hands, when I saw something inside of the blade's reflection. I saw Morro appearing in a portal alone in Ninjago. That meant that what was about to happen next was Morro getting back to Ninjago, alone.

That revelation I had about being the Green Ninja struck me at that moment. All of this time, Morro had been defying destiny. I was holding a sword that quite literally showed someone's destiny before your very eyes. I could keep this fight going, and neither of us would ever get back to Ninjago in time. If we both made it back to Ninjago, neither one of us would have made a difference.

That's when I knew that I had to let Morro go back without me. If I kept this going, then I would make it so destiny couldn't happen. The sword had just told me what it had told Morro in the tomb about the deadly traps. I needed to take heed of those visions. I had to let Morro go back to Ninjago, alone. For once, I wasn't going to be one there when it was all over. I needed to let destiny work through my friends. I needed to be the Green Ninja.

So I let Morro escape. Morro was laughing about how he'd finally gotten me right as he disappeared. I still had the SoS. Morro was gone, and I knew now it was just a matter of time until it was all over. I sat down, and I waited. I didn't feel any fear about what was going to happen next. I knew that I'd made the right choice.

There are two things that happened while I was waiting that I need to talk about. This is the time that I want to talk about how Nya became the sixth ninja on our team. Nya had been helping us out as Samurai X for a long time, but Wu had told her she had inherited the power of water. For all the time that I was possessed, she was training to become the Master of Water. The Preeminent used the buildings in Stiix to make legs so it could go and chase after a boat the ninja and all the people of Stiix were fleeing in. They lured the creature to a massive trench in the ocean, where they knew they could actually have a chance of drowning it. It was Nya that unlocked her True Potential to summon a flood and push the thing into the trench.

The weird thing is, I felt like Nya was already a member of our team. I knew in stories when they add another member it's a big deal since it's someone completely new. Nya, though, was there from the very start. She revealed herself as Samurai X pretty early, and after that she was constantly going with us in her mech suit or even just there to help build and repair things. There isn't a mission I can think of between when I first joined the team and now that Nya wasn't apart of in some major way. I always find it odd to imagine there was a time where Nya wasn't a ninja like us, because she was always apart of us as a team.

I never even considered that Nya would have some sort of hidden elemental powers. It was partially because all of the Elemental Masters I knew, including my friends, had already unlocked their powers. I thought you started to show your abilities early, like I did when I was training in Dareth's Dojo. Nya, however, just hadn't even thought of the fact she had them. It wasn't like anyone else did either. Wu, however, knew that she had abilities from the very beginning, or at the very least figured it out after Chen's island.

Since I wasn't there for her training, I can't say much on how her powers were at the start. I do, however, know that it was her that washed the Preeminent into the ocean. Knowing that she'd unlocked her True Potential was something that I didn't know would happen, but I know was destiny. Nya was the hero of that day. If it hadn't been for her, Ninjago would be cursed. I'm proud to fight alongside Nya, and I'm proud to say that she's my friend.

The thing is, this had an effect that I didn't think of. When I stayed behind, I didn't realize that Morro would be there with the Preeminent. When the Preeminent went down into the ocean, it dragged down Morro with it. Morro was left desperately using wind to try to stay above the water, unable to use the Realm Crystal to escape. Wu went over to try to offer his hand to Morro, trying to get him to come back. In the end, Morro told Sensei a few words I've been trying to figure out what he meant for a long time, before giving him the Realm Crystal… and dying.

"You can only save those who want to be saved."

For a long time, I never understood what those words meant. Wu told me in confidence (and I got permission to talk about here), saying that since I had come to know Morro the best, I would likely have a perspective on what they meant. Now that I've had so long to think about them, I think I've figured out what Morro was trying to say. When I realized it, however, I didn't feel good about it.

Morro was making sure Wu couldn't feel guilty about this. If Morro had been begging Sensei for his help and been dragged down that way, Wu would never have forgiven himself. Morro wasn't trying to redeem himself. Instead, he was making sure the man that had meant so much to him, had put him on this path and had blamed himself for Morro's demise in the first place, knew that Morro didn't hold it against him. Morro chose to end his own life so that Wu wouldn't have to have a hand in it. In the end, Morro chose death over a chance at redeeming himself.

… I never thought that Morro was going to die. After having spent so long with Morro, it truly did seem like Morro thought himself invincible. In a way, he was. Morro was always one step ahead of us, and never let up. He had the most determination I'd ever felt. He'd kept me possessed and trapped even after so long of me trying to fight back against him. For some reason, it never occured to me that Morro's will would give him clarity when he realized he was about to fully die. He was given a chance to come back, and he decided to tell Wu there was never a chance for him in the first place.

To this day, I still don't know how I really feel. Whenever I try to think about it, I just start to feel strange. I don't feel angry that Morro had to die, and I'd never be happy to see a villain gone. Morro was a boy that was led to believe he was destined for greatness, and then did everything he could to prove he was up until the end. Every evil thing he did, he was doing because he believed it was right. In the end, he believed himself to be the Green Ninja.

I wonder sometimes if he had become the Green Ninja, if everything in Ninjago would be even more different than it is today. I've thought about if Morro had taken Wu's hand and come with him and how that would have gone. Most of all… I wonder if Morro truly had to die for what he did. I don't think so, but that doesn't matter. Morro made a choice in his last few moments. He decided what he wanted. If he couldn't defy destiny, then he wouldn't force someone to question their own. Morro chose to do right by all of us in the end, even if he didn't die a hero. I'm sorry it had to end like that, Morro. I've respected your power to this day, and I'll never forget you.

Eventually, Wu used the crystal to open a portal for me to come back to Ninjago with. As I saw my friends, I told them what happened. For some reason, I felt calm. I knew what happened, but I also had already decided it would happen. I had let Ninjago decide its own destiny, and now I was back with the last reminder of my father.

Wu told me that I had a lot of ways to go to be able to wear these robes. I think that was the moment that I decided that one day, I would become a Sensei like my father. I would grow and continue to protect Ninjago until I was old enough to train others to protect it themselves. My father was gone, but for once I didn't feel guilt. I only felt the hollow sadness that came with it. I could finally move forward, with my new sword in hand and a destiny laid out in front of me. The others asked me about the other realms, but I didn't know enough to tell them. Instead, I told them that the future of Ninjago looked bright.

The time of possession was over. Our team had grown and changed, and we now had even more threats ahead of us. For the first time in a long time, though, I felt that we could rise up to meet whatever challenge was ahead of us. For once, I truly did feel that my destiny looked bright. Whatever was to come, I was going to be ready to face it.

I didn't know just how unready I was for that time to come to me.

* * *

"So… how is it?" Lloyd asked nervously, sitting down at the table and looking at the divided up casserole sitting in the middle of the table.

Slowly, everyone in the room took a bite. Lloyd felt his breath stall in his throat as he watched them all take time to chew and swallow. It was nerve-wracking, a feeling which made him shift around in his seat. He tried to remain still, but the longer that it took everyone to eat, the more it felt like they were trying to figure out how to mince their words.

"It's good!" Jay exclaimed, startling Lloyd, "Really good!"

"Indeed," Zane took a bite, "I may need to save some for Pixal."

"Yeahah!" Cole took three more bites in rapid succession, "Hoho this is just like eating a non-sweet cake!"

"Wow," Nya breathed in, "This _is_ really good! I didn't know you cooked, Lloyd."

"Uh…" Lloyd rubbed his neck, "I uh, didn't really until now. Kai helped me learn how."

"Kai?" Jay asked skeptically, "I didn't think Kai could do anything but burn food!"

"It'd still taste better than whatever you'd make, Jay!" Kai shot back playfully. The room laughed at Jay's expense, making Jay huff and dig back into the food. As the laughter died down, Lloyd looked over to Kai. Kai grinned and gave him a nod as he took a few more bites.

"Thanks, guys," Lloyd sighed in relief, "It means a lot. I was kinda worried you all wouldn't like it."

The room gave another murmur of support before they each went into eating their food. Lloyd felt so relieved he couldn't even take a bite of his own food -that and it was hot. He instead pulled it apart with a fork to let it start cooling down, looking around discreetly to see if anyone was just humoring him. With how eagerly they were all eating, it seemed that Lloyd had actually pulled it off.

"So, Lloyd," Cole asked after swallowing a mouthful, "How's that book of yours coming?"

"Wait, Lloyd's writing a book?" Nya asked, looking across the table to Lloyd, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Uh… well I mean, I was going to tell all of you, you know…" Lloyd sighed, "And, I'm not really writing it. I'm recording myself talking and Zane and I are going to go through at the end and actually make it into a full book. I've been going through all the big fights we've done and… well. I've been asking you guys one by one to help out."

"I was present for the first three major events," Zane spoke up, "I recorded the chapters that went over the Serpentine, Overlord and Golden Master."

"I listened to him do all the stuff with Chen," Cole spoke up, "It was pretty neat, actually. I learned a lot. More than just the stuff I wasn't there for, I mean."

"And _I_ just got to listen to all the stuff with Morro," Kai grinned, "It's pretty neat. Not exactly what you think, but it's something you all should do, too."

"So wait, if you've done all that… does that mean you're talking about Nadakhan next?!" Jay perked up, "Oh I'd love to help you with those! I can help you with anything you all don't remember, and we can-"

"Actually," Lloyd frowned, "I'm going to have Cole help me record the next chapter. You're going to help me with what comes after that."

"What about me?" Nya leaned in, "You haven't forgotten about me, have you?"

"I'm planning on having you help me with some later stuff," Lloyd pointed out, "When I start talking about some of the more recent stuff."

Nya, realizing what he meant, nodded her head and sat back. As the table looked around from their food, Lloyd sighed and dug into his own meal. He hadn't thought he'd be explaining this to them yet, but it did help to at least tell them.

"So," Jay spoke through a mouthful, "Got a title for the book yet?"

Lloyd shook his head, "Not yet. I got a few ideas but… I'm gonna wait until I finish it to really name it."

"Well," Cole leaned in with a smile, "You know if you ever need any help, feel free to hit us up!"

"Yeah," Nya added, "We're all happy to help! I was thinking of trying to write a book myself. I've gotten a few chapters in, but after that it got pretty rough," She pointed to Jay, "Having him help out turned it from just an idea to an idea with pages."

"I still say you should finish it!" Jay rolled his eyes while the others chuckled, "It was really good!"

"Well," Lloyd spoke up again, "I'll let you all know when I need help. But… thanks for liking the dinner, guys."

The room looked a bit confused at Lloyd's statement, but after a few minutes they all just shrugged and continued eating. Lloyd felt a small warmth blossom in his chest at seeing all of them together like this. Morro had tried to tell him he was weak for having family, that he couldn't do anything alone. The people in this room were his brothers and sister. They were his family, and the people that made him the Green Ninja. No matter what Morro said, Lloyd was still the Green Ninja.

No matter what Morro said, Lloyd was still here. And so Lloyd let himself smile and continue to relax and smile, spending time with the family that he'd chosen, and the people that had fought so hard for him. For tonight, he enjoyed his dinner, closing the door on one set of chapters and moving on to the others.


	30. That Time Cole Was a Ghost

Okay, so, I know that it was weird that I kept glossing over the fact Cole was a ghost during everything that happened with Morro. When the ninja needed to learn Airjitzu, they went to Sensei Yang's temple. Yang was the one that wrote the scrolls, so they figured they could get another one from him. The thing was, there was a curse that said that if you were inside the temple when the sun rose, you would be turned into a ghost. One of them dropped the scroll, so Cole hesitated for just a few seconds to grab the scroll. That meant when he left the building, he was turned into a ghost by Yang.

There are really two reasons why I didn't talk about it during the previous bit of chapters. The first was that I only was around Cole as a ghost during everything that happened with Morro for a day at most. The other reason was that it didn't really change anything. Cole was a ghost, but his whole ghost powers didn't actually help or hurt us. Like, I think the most he did was possess a megaphone to distract ghosts to let me get closer to Morro. That's really it. Everything else would have been the same if Cole was a human. But, there's another reason why I saved talking about it to this chapter:

When I look back overall, I literally forget that Cole was a ghost.

Okay, okay. This is the point I _have_ to say something. Jay and Nya have both tried to claim to us that, at some point, Clouse escaped the Cursed Realm before it was destroyed, found a lamp and unleashed someone called Nadakhan. They swear that there was an entire thing where Nadakhan, who was basically an evil genie called a Djinn, went around and reassembled this pirate crew from hundreds of years ago, made an airship called Misfortune's something, and then started ripping out chunks of Ninjago to make this land called Djinnjago in the sky and… I don't even know. At some point he claims I was even turned into an old man?

The thing is, I have no memory of this. Jay says that's because he made a wish that meant everything that happened never did and time reversed itself, but somehow he and Nya have memories of it. They even forced us to paint Nadakhan on the wall of the Monastery with all of our villains we'd fought. Jay thought if I saw him, I'd remember him. I don't. I literally have no memory of this happening.

Jay begged me to write chapters about this. He wanted me to try to recount everything I remembered. The thing is, when Morro was in my head I was still doing things and I can remember what happened to some extent. With this whole Nadakhan thing, I just don't. I mean, even if I did, wouldn't the fact that time got reversed mean that it was all pointless? If nothing happened that mattered, then clearly there was some issue with the whole thing. If the only way Jay could think of solving that was to actually wish to do that, then… I don't know. To me it just feels like a really dumb way to solve everything. You could solve all of our problems with just making it so it never happened. Plus, Jay could have wished for anything! Why not wish for me to have my Golden Power back? I could literally have moved Ninjago that way! And saved everything. I don't know why he couldn't think of that. Or anything!

The reason why I mention this, is because if it did happen, that would be the only thing that was between when Morro was defeated, and the next Day of the Departed that was actually of note. The reason that I forget that Cole was actually a ghost for so long was because he went right back to being human really fast. I guess if this whole 'Skybound' thing Jay talks about happened then sure, I'd remember it happening a lot more. But, as it stands all that I really remember changing was that we had to make sure we were careful on rainy days.

I really don't want to insult Cole in saying that I don't actually think it was hard for him. I understand what it's like to deal with ghosts. I can only imagine being a ghost. Cole said he couldn't feel anything unless he focused his body enough to do it, and even then that had limitations too. Cole also couldn't get wet at all, which I actually realize now is a lot harder than it sounds. On top of that, he started having issues with him fading in and out of existence. I don't know if that was because of his weird invisibility thing, or something else. I just know that for a few weeks, Cole started getting worried about that. Oh, and Cole couldn't sleep and eating didn't do anything for him. I also think I said before that ghosts can drink something if it's not water based, but drinking didn't do anything for him either.

...That's really all I can say about it. I mean, again I'm not saying it wasn't hard on Cole, and I understand it was a big deal for him. It just wasn't something that really left an impact on me. I really wanted to find more to say but, this is all that really came to mind. It's like talking about when Nya first joined our team: in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be. But, I needed to mention it here because Cole would probably be angry at me if I didn't. Well, maybe not angry but at least upset.

Now, I mentioned that whole fading in and out of existence thing. That was really starting to become a problem around the time of the Day of the Departed two years ago. I think it had something to do with either the fact Cole was turned into a ghost by a curse, or that the Cursed Realm was gone. It might have also had something to do with Sensei Yang too. When it happened, Cole would start to flicker like he was going to turn invisible. Ghosts can do that, but none of the ghosts that we fought during Morro's invasion did. I think by now I've talked about the inconsistency of powers in my life enough to not need to say more.

Now, leading up to that day, it'd become something we were just dealing with. Cole had to focus or else he would start to fade away. I don't know what that is like, but I know that it was freaking him out. I mean, it was freaking me out too, since one of my friends was literally disappearing. It was getting worse and worse leading up to the day, which might have something to do with the Ying-Yang eclipse that was happening.

Going into that DoTD wasn't exactly the easiest for me. My father had just died recently, and it'd been because of me. I know that he'd passed on in peace, and I'd come to terms with the fact that he was gone. After everything that happened with Morro, I wasn't about to start worrying about how it all happened. I'd been given my chance already to see my father, so it was more of a day of mourning for me. That doesn't mean that the day is easy, though. It also doesn't help that I never really got to experience all of the little things kids do on DoTD since… you know.

None of us knew what was going on with Cole, so we were dealing with it as it came up. Having Cole as a ghost in the first place didn't require that much transition for us outside of the rainy day thing I mentioned already. Whenever he'd start fading, we'd talk him through it until he was able to get a grip again. I don't know if it was linked to his emotions or whatever, but it was something that we all knew we had to help him with. In the weeks leading up to that day, it was happening almost once a day.

On the actual DoTD, we had to go and deal with a little thing on the northern coast. It meant that we were literally on the other side of Ninjago when we realized something important: we hadn't bought our lanterns yet. Normally we're better about this, but it was a surprise call and we had to get there fast. That was why Nya decided to roll out three new vehicles that she'd finished working on: the Rock Raider, Titanium Tumbler and Ultra Stealth Raider. Yes, those vehicles also fell into the trap of us using them once or twice before we forgot… wait, no. No, we actually used the Stealth Raider pretty often now that I think about it. We used it more than the Ultra Sonic Raider, since we could split it up into different sections to use independently. I mean, I wasn't using it that much but I know the others did.

Well, either way the fact we were literally racing to Ninjago City just to buy lanterns meant that I didn't get much time to think about the day at first. I was keeping busy, so it didn't hit me what the day meant to me. Nowadays I can handle the feelings a lot better, but I was glad that I was at least busy the first time. My mother was still sticking to being around at that point, so the two of us had made plans to go visit the statue we carved of my father into the Corridor of Elders. We had to get to the museum to buy lanterns before it closed for the night's festivities, so we were booking it pretty hard.

We got there in time, despite Cole starting to fade again. When we got to the museum, we were literally a minute away from the store closing, and were able to buy the lanterns we needed. It's, kinda silly that we were racing to get there in time now that I think about it. The only reason we even needed to go to the museum itself was because Wu decided it was a good place for us all to meet up. We could have bought it from almost any other place in Ninjago City, but we were also going because we were going to be given a special preview tour of the new Hall of Villainy that was just opened up.

Actually, I think that was the first time we ever met Dr. Sanders Saunders. Or, was it Saunders Sanders? I'm going with Dr. Saunders. Well, he was actually Krux in disguise, but we didn't know that yet. Krux is someone that was important later. He offered to give us a tour.

I've never liked the idea of a Hall of Villainy, if I'm being honest. It seems weird that someone could do something horrible and still end up being honored in a museum. I mean, I know that they're in a section for _villains_ but all of them got their own displays before they even put ours up! It just seems a little strange to me that you'd want to go and have people learn about villains like that. I know they even wanted to add something about the Golden Master, but I asked them not to do that and instead just mention that with the Overlord. I didn't want there to be two displays to the same person. They did anyway.

I know I'm probably alone in thinking that, so I'll just go ahead and move on. Now, during the tour Yang started using some sort of magic on us that made us forget that Cole was with us. It wasn't that we didn't have memories of Cole, since we were able to remember him once someone mentioned it to us. It was more like we were just physically unable to see that Cole was there. It was all part of Yang's plan to do something to Cole to make him come and unleash the spirits of all of our slain villains.

I wasn't really paying attention during the tour to begin with, since I was eager to get going with mom to go see the statue of my dad. I vaguely remember Dr. Saunders showing us this thing called a Yin Blade that Cole stole after Yang manipulated him. By that point, though, we didn't even know that he wasn't there anymore. If it feels like I'm breezing through some of this, it's really because there wasn't much important happening at that time.

We all left the museum and my mom and I used the bottom part of the Stealth Raider to make it out to the Corridor of Elders. It was a pretty silent drive over there, the more I think about it. It was starting to hit me at the time that we were honoring the dead. I wasn't really upset, but I was more so just… down, I guess. I don't honor the day that my dad actually died, so I pushed all of that to the DoTD. My mom was feeling the same way, so none of us really wanted to try to comfort each other when we weren't all that way ourselves.

Seeing my father's statue again brought me a little comfort. We filled up our lanterns and let them lose in front of the statue. I watched them float up and illuminate my father's face to me. Whenever I look back at that statue, I feel glad that we decided to do that for him. My father saved Ninjago, and carving him alongside all of the other great men that helped protect Ninjago is my way of honoring that. Going there helps me to feel closer to him in some way.

I've always thought that, in some way, my father was looking out for me after he passed away. I know that he likely isn't, since he was in another realm that we can't even reach. Whenever people say that, however, I think it means that they've come to terms with what happened. I mean… I'm not saying that I'm an expert, but I know that whenever I started to feel guilty or worried about my father, I would start to think about how he was watching over me and I'd feel better. When I was under that statue, all of my worries at that point started to fade away. I knew my dad was proud of me, and I knew that he'd always watch over me if he could.

That was around the time that Pythor showed up. Yang's plan that night is one that most of you probably don't haven't heard of. Yang tricked Cole into taking the Yin Blade and releasing the souls of our villains to possess the statues in the Hall of Villainy to come and kill us and take our place among the living. The exception to that was Pythor, since he isn't (as far as I know) dead. Pythor simply showed up around the time that this was happening and decided to join in on it. Pythor decided to come and try to kill me… to kill time.

You know, I have to at least say that Pythor made himself an annoying opponent. The first thing he did when he showed up was taunt me that he'd gotten rid of 'the father' and now it was time to finish off 'the son.' If I'm being honest, I'd forgotten about Pythor by that point. After Chen, he just sort of vanished. The spirits of the generals undid the effects of the shrinking pill, so I wasn't fighting a tiny doll. I guess maybe the reason that he was such a tough opponent was because, even if he is the wrong color now, he's an Anacondrai. His first move was to knock the head off of one of the carvings to try to crush me, leaving me having to hold it up to avoid getting crushed.

I really want to say a lot more about the encounter with Pythor… but it all went by so fast. Pythor taunted me about my father, and I responded by remembering I wasn't alone and my father was always with me. I did some Spinjitzu to get out from under the rock and then Pythor and I fought a little bit around before he just… left. Well, to be more specific I kicked him off a small cliff and he just gave up. I think the fact he didn't even bother trying to come after us that seriously was why I say he was just killing time.

Maybe I expected the fight to be a little more… climactic? Like, Pythor was coming back to finally try to take his revenge on me after all of these years. He'd been the one to force me into becoming a ninja, and now he wanted to take me down after allying with us to stop Chen. He was right where he needed to be. It almost felt like the last fight that we should have ever had. It actually was, but it wasn't even a big one! Pythor acted like he wanted to kill me, but he gave up after I knocked him off a little cliff? I saw those cultists literally walk through us collapsing the sides of the Corridor of Elders!

I guess all in all I was just disappointed with it. I'm not saying that I want to have Pythor come in and beat me senseless -Chen already taught me how that felt- but I at least wanted to feel like it was worth my time. Maybe I'm just upset because it was during DoTD when I was supposed to be visiting my father's statue. I guess in the end it isn't important.

So, anyways. My mother and I figured something was wrong and we contacted the ninja to meet up at the museum. When we got there, we all started sharing stories. It turns out that all of them had faced their villains and defeated them. To be honest, it all sounded somewhat underwhelming. It was scary to have them returning, but it didn't take much to really defeat them.

Soon, however, Wu arrived with someone we didn't expect: Morro. The thought had crossed my head that he was in the hall when we arrived, and we of course were all ready to fight him. Seeing Morro again made it look like he'd followed Wu all the way there… but then Wu instead said that Morro had told him about what was really going on. That's how we learned that Yang was behind all of this and was planning something with Cole.

Seeing Morro back and helping Wu was… odd. I guess I should be grateful, since this meant that Morro wasn't going to make this difficult. I think what's odd is that I don't know why Morro did that. I know his last words were meant to absolve Wu of the guilt over failing him, but that didn't mean Morro went out a hero. I'm not sure what drove him to do that. Maybe he felt he had a debt to pay to Wu? I'm not complaining, but it was… odd, and I can't figure out why Morro did it. Still, we all loaded up the Bounty and made our way over to Yang's temple. Morro peacefully went back to his place in the hall and took it, allowing himself to go back to the Departed Realm.

When we arrived, Cole was fighting with Yang on top of his temple, underneath a massive rift. What we came to understand was that if Cole jumped through the rift, he'd become human again. I don't know what went down, and Cole told me he and Yang were fighting to make it through the rift.

I don't really understand what happened. I've never met Sensei Yang, so I don't know what to think about him. Cole says that he tried to give himself immortality, and in turn cursed himself so the temple would always have a ghost to remain as its 'Master' of some kind. That's really weird to me, because I've never seen Yang. If he was always in the temple, then why did I never get a chance to meet him? All I know is that Yang had some sort of change of heart and let Cole go through the rift at the last moment, letting him become human again.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that I must not think of Cole being a ghost as such a big deal because I wasn't really involved in him becoming a ghost or coming back to life. Both times I was doing something completely different. The others remember it a lot more, since they were there. But I wasn't. I was fighting Pythor in a really short fight. I'm not trying to say it wasn't important to Cole, but… I just don't have much to say on it!

I mean, honestly, the biggest thing that came out of this was that Yang's temple was restored back to its full glory. Because of that, we decided to make it our base of operations. For some reason it was now permanently floating in the sky. Honestly? I think it's the best headquarters that we ever had. It's the coolest looking, and it was a lot bigger than the Monastery. We had enough space for all of us to have our own rooms and multiple places for us to train. It was also a lot safer than the Monastery… well, I mean that it wasn't burned down at least. It's really weird how we just seemed to forget about it later.

So, Cole was no longer a ghost, we now had a new base of operations, and my first DoTD without my dad was over. We were ready to fully move forward as ninja and train even harder than ever before. I know I said the future looked bright already, but at that point it looked even brighter. We were all about to begin our journey to becoming even stronger than ever.

I almost wish that we knew just how little time we had before it was all about to come crashing down on us.

* * *

"Huh… well, that was something," Cole spoke up after Lloyd had finished talking.

"Yeah… something," Lloyd muttered out. There was an awkwardness in the air, though whether or not it was only coming from Lloyd was something neither of them knew yet.

"If you wanted to talk to me about being a ghost," Cole broke the tension, "Then you should know I'm fine with what you said."

"Really?" Lloyd sighed in relief, "Ugh, all of these chapters about ghosts have felt so weird to me. And I didn't want to make it sound like I didn't care you were turned into a ghost, but I just couldn't figure out a lot to say I wanted to have in the book!"

"If you can't think of something to say, don't say it," Cole crossed his arms and smirked, "Easiest rule to live by."

"Yeah but just, I don't know! You weren't a ghost for that long the more I think about it! I mean, aside from Jay claiming all that weird stuff with pirates, but I don't wanna include things I don't' remember!"

"You gotta take everything Jay says with a grain of salt," Cole pointed out, "I'm not so sure it didn't happen, but if you can't say anything about it, better you not do anything people could take for lying. Kai said you were worried about that with the other stuff too."

"Yeah, well, I mean! It's really hard!" Lloyd sighed and leaned forward, "you know we're all glad that you stopped being a ghost, right?"

"I'd hope you would be!" Cole exclaimed, "I never had to watch the weather so much before in my whole life!" The two shared a chuckle at that.

"You know… there's something I wanna ask you," Lloyd pointed at Cole's forehead, "Didn't you used to have a scar there?"

"Huh?" Cole reached up and rubbed the area, "Oh, it's still there. Actually, here, I'll show you!"

Cole looked around the room for something, then sighed in defeat as he failed to find it. Instead, he reached up and rubbed his hand back and forth against the area. Lloyd watched as the scar was uncovered, almost like dredging up something buried in the sand. Cole moved his hand away to show he had something left on it. After thinking for a few minutes, Lloyd realized that Cole was using…

"Makeup?" Lloyd blinked.

"Yeah… turns out people don't trust you when you have a huge glowing green scar on your forehead," Cole brushed his hair aside to show the scar more clearly, "I asked Nya for some help with it and she showed me how to apply it. I just got tired of explaining it to everyone."

"I notice when you use your lava arms that it glows," Lloyd pointed out, "Actually, do you know what your lava arms actually are?"

"No clue," Cole answered honestly, "And to tell the truth, I've not really thought about it."

"Cool," Lloyd shrugged, "Well, I think that's pretty much everything I had to say. You want to go and work out again?"

"Do I ever!" Cole smirked, "I think you're ready to move up a size today!"

"Let's hope I don't throw my shoulder out doing it," Lloyd smiled, "Last time we tried I swear I heard my shoulder crack."

"I told you, that was just a pop!" Cole exclaimed, "A really loud, crackly pop!"

Lloyd rolled his eyes at Cole's statement but said nothing more. He soon was following Cole out of the room. A small tangent was closed on the previous chapter, and now it was time for him to move forward. It was about to be time for him to record the last story before everything had changed all over again.

* * *

Author's Note:

I take issue with Skybound's ending.

Greeting Autobiography Readers! Thank you for reading to this point.

One thing I need to clarify is I will not be covering the Dark Island Trilogy. While I am familiar with the events of the story, I have not gotten a chance to read the books myself. I primarily wish to stick to show continuity, and know some readers may not even know of what the DIT is. Thus, it is best for me to move forward and stick to the show. I also don't read Way of the Departed (nor consider it canon) so I won't touch on that either.

In the meantime, please check out The Furthest Realm and Enter the Ninjaverse, two other fanfics I've written I've poured a lot of time into. I would be very happy if you took the time to do that! Thank you again, and Ninja-GO!


	31. Twin Problems

So, when it comes to talking about villains that I've fought, talking about Krux and Acronix is probably the weirdest one to talk about. It's not like they did anything that makes it hard to talk about, like Morro, or that they got so close to me that it hurt to have it ripped away, like Harumi. The reason why is kinda strange when I say it out loud, but I can't not mention it while talking about the Time Twins. The Time Twins were the first villains that I've faced that didn't care about me specifically.

I was the one that let out the Serpentine, and Pythor made a point of attacking me specifically. Obviously the stuff with my dad were situations where he cared about me a lot. Both Chen and the Golden Master wanted my power and to defeat me to prove themselves. Morro, of course, wanted my body because he thought of himself as the true Green Ninja. Everything that happened with Harumi were all things she did because she hated me. I guess Master Yang technically would be the one that has the least to do with me, since he was after Cole, but I remember fighting Pythor that day more than anything. All of the villains I'd faced up to that point had some personal investment in me.

The Time Twins didn't. Krux and Acronix didn't care if I was alive or dead. Sure, they hated having their plans foiled, but their plans all centered around Master Wu. To them, I was just another obstacle to push over. If I hadn't been there for everything that happened, then nothing would have really changed. For the first time, the villains didn't actually care about whether or not I was there to stop them.

Honestly, the more I think about it, when I talk about Acronix and Krux, I don't have much to say about them as people. I mean, I was able to write entire chapters about Morro and Chen, and the Overlord and my father were both big parts of how I became the person I am today. I can talk more about Sensei Yang simply because we started living in his floating temple. But when I think about the Time Twins as people… I literally have almost nothing to say about them.

So, I guess I'll just go ahead and talk about them up front. Most of you might have remembered that Dr. Sanders Saunders disappeared from the museum a year before the Sons of Garmadon started their rampage. If you don't, then you might remember him as that guy with the silly long mustache and really weird voice that loved giving tours and talking about the past. That was Dr. Saunders. I first met him during the whole scrap with Yang, though it wasn't until recently my mother told me that she had actually met him when she was working at the museum. She said that he was a very nice man and really loved talking about Ninjago before the events of the Serpentine Wars and how the individual cities developed. She said it was almost like he actually used to live back then.

It turns out, he did. Dr. Saunders was actually Krux, one of the two former Masters of Time (another element that I guess Chen's spell didn't need). Krux had fought Master Wu and my dad after the Serpentine Wars and lost. Wu and dad used Chronosteel to strip the Twins of their powers and then open up a Time Vortex in order to make sure the Twins could never get their hands on their powers again. The Twins jumped in afterwards to try to get them back, resulting in Krux being thrown out of the vortex minutes after he'd jumped inside, while Acronix was left to travel time indefinitely.

Maybe it's a little weird to go ahead and talk about all that upfront, but it's kinda what made all of this entire situation happen. Since Acronix was still lost to time, Krux decided to hide his identity and later start working at the museum to hide his true identity. I'm not quite sure why he did, but I guess part of it was because he really liked history. That's all I can even think to say about him. He was old, cranky, and he was a big fan of the 'good old days.' I'm pretty sure half the reason he even did all of this stuff was because he wanted to go back to a time before 'modern technology' had started to seep into things.

Acronix was a little different. Because of how the Time Vortex worked, Acronix emerged from the vortex 40 years after he'd fought Wu and my dad. It's somewhat ironic calling them the Time Twins when Krux is very visibly older than Acronix. While Krux was usually always annoyed and constantly upset at everything, Acronix was more… happy, I guess? He was always smiling and fiddling around with his MP3 player and Borg Watch. I'm pretty sure that he was listening to music most of the time. He loved seeing all of the modern technology that Krux hated and stuff. The only reason I know about it was because Borg told me Acronix demanded to be given the more recent models of everything, just to be able to enjoy it all. Actually, come to think about it, Borg is the reason we even know much about who the Time Twins were as people.

Now, as the Time Twins went, they honestly came pretty close to almost achieving their goal. I think the thing that set the Twins apart from every other villain was their ambition. They didn't want to defeat me, or take over Ninjago, or any of that. Well, okay, I think at some point taking over Ninjago was something they wanted to do, but that wasn't their main goal. In truth, all they wanted was to go back in time and right the wrong of being defeated. They wanted to defeat Wu on the day they challenged him. The lengths they went to for that goal were pretty big, but, well, I guess I at least have to say that they had ambition.

...See, I'm already out of things to talk about with the Time Twins. Since they didn't care about me as a person, I remember more about their plan than I do about them specifically. Kai and Nya spent more time with them, so I guess I could ask them about it. But even then, I don't know what I'd really get from that. It's just really hard to talk about the Time Twins without talking about what actually happened!

I guess we should just move on and start talking about what happened. Now, of all the villain schemes that Ninjago has been put through, I'd say the Time Twins plan is likely one most of you don't really know about. The only thing many people remember is a bunch of snake people stealing metal, a few people were kidnapped, and then it was all back to normal by the end of the week. Honestly, when it came to making their plan a secret, the Twins probably were the best at it. We didn't even know about what their true plan was until they'd already started getting away with it. They knew what they were doing. But, I guess I should start off with the beginning of all of this, since that's what really started all of this:

It was all Wu's fault.

I don't mean that in a sarcastic way, or in some weird roundabout explanation kinda way. I mean that all of this literally was Wu's fault. Everything that happened, from the start of the Time Twins' plan all the way to how it ended, was entirely Wu's fault. This entire situation could have been avoided had Wu decided to just tell us where he was going that evening.

It wasn't too long after we'd obtained Yang's temple as our new home base that this all started. After we found out that we were actually fighting possessed mannequins of the villains, the museum tried to bill us for the damages. We tried telling them that we were fighting for our lives, but the guy that came to talk to us said we didn't have any physical proof that was the case, so we had to pay up. It turns out that those mannequins were actually super expensive with how much research they'd poured into making them accurate, so instead we offered to repair them and then help clean up the museum after Dareth had destroyed a good deal of the storeroom while being chased by General Kozu. Thankfully, they were willing to accept that.

Since I fought the actual living Pythor, we only had to handle the ones that the others had faced. Samukai and his Skulkin were somewhat easy to fix, but Chen and his sidekicks were just completely toast. We ended up having to just pay to fix those. The Nindroids were actually fine enough to just put back on display. After we spent time remaking Chen -something that I do not want to ever have to do again- we were at the museum one day to help put everything back in its place. Since we were already there, I offered for us to help clean up some other areas of the museum as a show of good faith. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so generous.

Before we'd set out to the museum, Master Wu had said he had some business to take care of. At the same time, Ronin was helping Dareth and mom unpack our things at Yang's temple. Mom had said she planned to live with us now that we had a more permanent home, which marked the first time that my mom was actually going to be living with me. We were still living in the Bounty while Wu had the tea shop, or rather the Samurai X Cave where it was being worked on. Honestly, it was weirder than I thought it would be to know I was going to be living with my mother. That sounds really weird, but it's true. My mom was actually going to be living with us. Yeah she was at the shop but, this was our actual home. I'm pretty sure Ronin was there that day since he planned to steal something pretty high profile later that week, so helping us out would at least give him something to stand on if we caught him. Dareth was always willing to help us our it we asked… plus, we were living in a floating temple, which was hard not to want to see.

None of us had questioned where Wu was going that day. If we had, we might have been able to stop all of this. Before Acronix had fully disappeared into the Time Vortex, Wu had seen an image inside of it that told him the day that Acronix would return. Wu had gone back to the old Monastery to wait for Acronix to emerge and fight him alone. He thought it was just him 'tying up loose ends' and fixing something he felt he needed to fix.

None of us are really sure what happened at that battle. Wu didn't have the strength to tell us about what exactly happened -for reasons that were directly tied to it- but what we do know is that he managed to fight Acronix to a standstill before something happened. That something was the emergence of the Time Blade.

Before all of this, though, we were still at the museum. While we were cleaning, Kai and Nya stumbled upon a portrait of their parents. While they were looking at it, we found a painting nearby that depicted a battle between my dad and Wu when they were in their prime versus the Time Twins. Dr. Saunders came over and told us that there were no records of the Time Twins that were shown in the image, meaning that he presumed the entire thing was just made up. Part of what drew us into that picture was the fact that it looked so real. Most people wouldn't remember what my father looked like before he turned evil, so to see him looking just as my mother had told me about was weird. The ninja also said that the Monastery was picture perfect, meaning that someone had to have studied it in order to paint it.

Personally, I think that Krux painted it. I know it sounds weird, but the only person that would have known what that battle was truly like were the people that were there. It was too lifelike to be fake and too accurate to just be made up. I've never heard of Krux painting before, but nothing about him says that he can't do it. After thinking about why that painting was there in the first place, I'm pretty sure Krux put it there as a sort of sneaky way of showing everyone a moment of the past that he took part in, like hiding a clue in plain sight.

The reason I bring the painting up was because it tied into what happened right after. We had just left the museum when suddenly we blinked and found ourselves standing on the Bounty's control room. Just before that happened, the first Time Blade had emerged from the Time Vortex and landed where Wu and Acronix were fighting. That one was the Forward Blade, which had the ability to speed up time, which was why we went from on our way to the Bounty to actually being in the Bounty.

After dealing with a rather loud alarm -something that drove Jay almost crazy- Zane and Nya discovered that it was due to 'temporal energy;' basically, something had happened to time. Time had skipped forward an entire minute, but nobody could remember what happened when we did. While Jay was trying to do everything he could to make us not go and investigate, Zane and Pixal figured out it came from the Monastery. That was when I remembered that Wu said he was going there to 'finish an old fight' and it was decided we would go.

When we got there, the only person we were able to find was someone in strange gray and red armor with a large hood on. Zane was able to use the painting he'd scanned and determined that the person was Acronix from the painting. Why he was still so young, we didn't know yet. Since Jay was just completely done with the idea of investigating this after an entire day of labor -which I admit wasn't exactly easy- he simply put down the anchor and moved to confront Acronix. He must have figured out that Acronix was evil, since he went right into the fight.

That was when we first got to see the Time Blades in action. The forward blade basically let Acronix teleport however he wanted by skipping forward in time, which made hitting him near impossible. We all went down to help Jay, and that was when Acronix truly showed off how good he was in battle.

Part of why we lost that first battle was because of the Time Blade, but the other part was just due to how good Acronix was at fighting. By that point, I had enough training to say I could hold my own in almost any fight. Acronix was able to switch back and forth between offense and defense with his blade. I'm not even sure how he figured out how to use the blade so quickly, but it was clear that he was used to fighting large groups of enemies… which made sense since he was a veteran of the Serpentine Wars.

During the fight, Kai ended up lighting what remained of the Monastery on fire. While it burned down, this led Acronix to say that he'd met a 'Master of Fire' before, which led Kai to realize that Acronix had known his father. I had Nya and Zane work on putting out the flames while Jay, Kai and I all attacked Acronix. It turns out that the Time Blade is really good at absorbing elemental energy and then exploding, which gave Acronix an opening to leave. He acted as though he just was done with the battle with us at that point and must have escaped using his Time Blade.

Once we'd all recovered from the explosion, we all rapidly went to search for Master Wu. Acronix had thrown Wu off the side of the Monastery, leaving him to be hanging on by a branch. Just before he fell, Cole found him and managed to grab him. We didn't know it then, but Acronix had hit Wu with the Time Blade in something called a 'Time Punch.' Wu had lost the battle with Acronix once the Time Blade had arrived, and we were the ones that had found out. Once we got him to the Bounty, we set course for the temple.

Just like that, the Hands of Time had started ticking, and we didn't even know there was a countdown.

* * *

"There," Lloyd paused, "You think that's enough for this chapter?"

"I believe so," Zane nodded his head, "Not all chapters need to be of a larger size. Smaller chapters can be easier for the reader to digest."

"Good," Lloyd sighed, "After doing all the chapters with Morro it's kinda nice to go back to just doing chapters that I actually took part in."

"The events that transpired were truly unique," Zane informed him, "Given your constraints, I say that you told your side of the story satisfactory."

Lloyd sighed as he leaned back to lay on his bed. Today was a bit more unique, as the room that he normally recorded in was being worked on by Nya and Jay after some electronics had gone off in the rooms around it. Thus, Lloyd was currently sitting on his bed in his own personal room, with Zane taking a writing desk chair to record in. The change of scenery was nice, but it left Lloyd's mind wandering somewhat.

"May I ask why it is that you decided to record these chapters with me?" Zane asked, "Given your desire to speak to everyone, it would seem that you have more reason to talk with Jay and Nya instead."

"I'm going to talk with Nya over the recent stuff when you guys were trapped in the First Realm," Lloyd frowned, "She's, the only one that really knows all that happened. And, well, that meant that I could do chapters with Jay on either the stuff with the Sons of Garmadon or this. Since you were going through all the stuff with Pixal and missed a bit of the action, I figured I'd do what I did with Cole and help fill you in on some things."

"I will happily help you with that," Zane smiled, "It had been a rather long while since we have recorded chapters together, though I suspect that these chapters will not be as involved as the others."

"Yeah… I don't really think much about all the stuff with the Time Twins, to be honest," Lloyd told his partner, "It's like, I don't really remember a lot of what happened unless I'm thinking about it. Like, I forgot that we fought Acronix at the start and all that happened there. I guess this was really more important to Kai and Nya since they were dealing with their own thing but… I still want to record them, you know? So I can have the whole story."

"The events were rather disconnected from most other events," Zane affirmed, "Unlike our previous enemies, the plan they had did not involve us directly. We were fighting to stop their plan, rather than being pulled into it."

"Yeah," Lloyd nodded, "I mean, something about everything just felt… kinda off. I'm not sure what it is. I'm kinda hoping by the time I finish these chapters I can kinda figure out why I don't remember them that well. I know it's not because of that time thing that happened in the end, since you were the only one that seemed to be caught in it."

"The last set of events was rather strange," Zane agreed, "I admit that my memory of them is not as comprehensive as I would like. I hope that our discussions will help to fill in the gaps on what I am unable to remember."

"Same here," Lloyd smiled, "I don't know if I'll be doing a lot of chapters for this one, though. I really wanna get to the stuff that happened after since… well, there's a lot more to talk about there."

"If that is what you wish," Zane stood up, "I believe that dinner should be ready soon. Shall we get ready for it?"

"Yeah," Lloyd smiled, "I think we should. Let's eat."


	32. Slithering Suspicions

In hindsight, thinking that we weren't going to see Acronix again after everything that happened was probably the biggest reason that we weren't able to stop what actually did happen. When we all fought Acronix at the Monastery, we ended up overloading his Time Blade with our elemental powers and made it explode. Acronix disappeared the second that happened with the blade, but it _looked_ like he was blown up with it. We all assumed that was the last we'd see of him, so we just went home with Wu after we found him.

I mentioned two chapters ago that Sensei Yang let us take his old temple and use it as our new headquarters. Honestly, out of everywhere that we've lived, that's probably the coolest one. I mean, it was literally a huge temple floating in the sky! It floated around in a small circle, but it was still flying in the air. Plus, it wasn't just one temple, but actually the temple and then two small buildings that we were also able to use.

I'm not sure what Cole did to make Yang like us so much, but the ninja swear that it looked way nicer when we moved in than at first. The entire building looked almost brand new, or at least really well taken care of. It had a full training ground, meeting area, bedrooms for each of us, kitchen, library, storage areas, fishing pond, courtyard… honestly it's way better than the Monastery. Like, sure, the Monastery has a lot of value since it's where Wu grew up and since we rebuilt it we made it more special but… a floating temple in the sky is way better than a small little one you have to walk up a million steps to get to.

When we first moved in, I told Wu that I wanted to take serious steps towards becoming a true Master like him. When my dad gave me his robes before I left the Departed Realm, I'd told myself I was going to seriously start pursuing becoming a man that he could be proud of. To me, that meant that I would work to become a Master. I'm still technically one in training right now. It was once we moved into a more permanent home, though, that I was determined to seriously see that through.

Wu, however, said that the path to becoming a Master was one that I had to walk on my own. I tried asking him if he could give me lessons, but he said there wasn't anything to teach. Apparently, I was on the path to becoming a Master just by being a ninja. I kept trying to tell him I wanted to learn and seriously work to study to become one, but no matter what I said Wu told me that I was already on my way to it.

I'm not quite sure why Wu never really wanted to give me lessons. I was serious about truly becoming a Master, I still am. To this day I still want to. But… for some reason, it almost feels like Wu is refusing to teach me about this path I want to take. I don't know about the others, but I want to be like my father. One day, I want to grow to be a teacher and pass on what I can do. I mean, half the reason I'm writing this book is because I want to tell everyone about what I learned from everything that happened to me.

On one hand, I guess I understand. If Wu was saying that I was too young to truly start down this road, then maybe that's true. But, he didn't say that. He never said that. So then it just feels like he's telling me that I can't do anything. I want to be a Master, and this was when I wanted to truly start becoming one. The thing is, nothing that happened really did.

Around this time, I was also trying to take more of a leadership role. Until then, I'd more or less been the leader by default since I was the Green Ninja, but I felt that part of me growing into being a Master was to take control of the team. The thing was, during what happened with Morro, Cole had started taking control of the group, so I wasn't really in the leadership role I wanted to be. It'd been more or less understood until then that I was in charge, but...I guess since we were in a point of having some peace again, the others started to take issue with it.

Now, that isn't a problem today, but this is when me being the leader really started. It sort of went hand in hand with me wanting to be a Master. I wanted to grow and develop into my own, and this was when I wanted to start doing it outside of danger. When we were in dangerous situations, nobody had an issue with me, but outside of them I started noticing that the others didn't listen to me as much as I needed them to. I'm not saying that they were ignoring me, but they just didn't see me as capable yet. I guess… in some ways they still thought that I was younger and needed their guidance, so me starting to try to grow up at this point was when they pushed back on it. This was a problem during all that happened with the Time Twins.

Anyways. Now, when we got back to the temple, Wu wasn't feeling right. He was constantly going in and out of sleep, and he had instructed my mom to keep giving him healing tea. We waited hours for him to be awake long enough to actually talk to us, and even then he fell asleep not that long after. We didn't know yet, but Acronix had hit him with the Time Punch, basically blasting him with the forward blade. This meant Wu was starting to age really fast. I guess when you get older, you sleep a lot more.

When we were able to talk to him, Wu told us about how Krux and Acronix were the elemental masters of time back during the Serpentine Wars. After the war ended, they thought of themselves as powerful and decided to try to take over the elemental alliance. In order to stop hem, Wu had blades forged from chronosteel that he used to then take away their elemental powers after confronting them one last time at the Monastery. Wu won and then opened up the Time Vortex to send the blades in and make them lost to time. The Twins jumped in last minute to go after them, which was how Krux was spat back out right away but Acronix emerged forty years later.

Honestly, as far as the motivation the Time Twins had, it's pretty simple. In terms of having the ability to control time, I can understand why they'd think that they were more powerful than everyone else. I mean, I once had the Golden Power, something that let me literally raise mountains. Having power like that really does make you feel like you can do anything you want. When you can do anything you want, knowing that you have to still answer to someone else can be hard. I'm not saying I ever thought of using my Golden Power to hurt Ninjago, but I do know what it's like to want to use power.

The thing is, the Twins took it in a way that I can't really get. Just because they were powerful, it didn't give them the right to go and take over Ninjago. If Wu and the others hadn't gotten involved, then I totally understand why the Twins would think that they were wronged, a very odd way. But they didn't have a motivation that I could get behind. I know why Morro did what he did, I can even understand the Serpentine to an extent. Even the Overlord was literally just pure evil. But the Twins just seemed selfish. They were strong, so they should rule. I understand the logic at first, but the more I think about it the more I can't really find any way to sympathize with them. They were just, evil.

Speaking of evil, it was after Wu passed out again that we were shown the first taste of what they were planning. The opening of the Borgstore was wrecked by Krux unleashing the first Vermillion Warrior we'd ever seen. We saw this on the news and decided to rush over to stop them… and to help avoid unpacking everything else mom, Dareth and Ronin hadn't gotten done finishing up by the time we got back.

Now, the Vermillion themselves are a little weird. See, the Vermillion are really just suits of armor that are filled up with snakes that just sort of coil around each other and make the armor move. This makes them deadly since you can knock them around and break them apart, but the snakes will just keep getting back in the armor. The only way you can stop them is if you make it so they can't get back inside the armor. Even that won't always work, though, since they can just cobble together random bits of things and make something to throw at you. They once turned regular scaffolding into a body they could use to attack us.

We all raced to the Borgstore in the Stealth Raider (another time we used the thing) and worked to help defeat the warrior. The way we decided to do this was to take turns by rolling a dice to see who got to fight the thing. If we hadn't been messing around like that, we might have been able to stop everything that happened next. When I think back on what happened, it was that and us believing that Acronix was lost in the explosion that really made it so everything happened the way it did. If we had taken the situation more seriously then… maybe this would have been just, a lot easier to handle.

We first found out about the Vermillion's ability to basically regenerate when Cole used his lava arms to break it apart. After he came back from being a ghost, Cole got some new power that let him have… really strong arms. To be honest, I don't know what they do, and neither does Cole. His arms turn orange, his scar he got from being a ghost glows, and then he just can punch things, pretty hard. To this day we don't know what it does and it seems to just be super strength… which Cole already had before. It's just really weird, I think. It's never been a problem, so we haven't tried to look into it yet.

The Vermillion kept reforming no matter what we did, and during all of this Krux sent two more just to mess with us. We figured out the Vermillion were there to capture Borg and take him somewhere, so I told Zane to go and make sure Borg was safe. I wish I'd sent him with someone else to go and help, since it was doing this that also contributed to where this all went wrong. The more I talk about all this, the more it feels like this was all caused because we kept messing up.

Jay and Nya managed to figure out they could electrocute the snakes to make them stop going for the armor, which eventually led them to retreat down into the sewers. Rather than go after them, we made our way around the side of the building to look for Borg. We couldn't find him, but we found his Borg watch, and Zane. Zane was completely knocked out and powered down. Someone had attacked Zane and then kidnapped Borg from him.

I didn't tell the team, but I was really upset after that. Zane getting hurt was because I told him to go after Borg. If we'd just stopped messing around and figured out how to beat the Vermillion in the first place, we wouldn't have let this happen. Maybe the Twins would have kidnapped Borg another way, but it was our fault that it happened. We didn't know what happened, but it was clear that we'd messed up.

The entire way back to the temple, I didn't want to talk to anyone. Something about this situation didn't feel right, and I knew it was our fault. When we had been on Chen's island and Chen pulled a 180 on us and left us stranded there instead, it'd felt like we'd let our guard down. This felt like one of those times. Nya said she would have to work on rebooting him in the Samurai X Cave, and I offered to stay behind and look after Master Wu. I knew someone had to look after him, but I also didn't want to be around Zane after everything.

This was during the time that the Vermillion moved to do the second stage of their plan, which was when all those people got kidnapped. The Time Twins needed people to help build something, so they went around kidnapping buildings and designers. I didn't know about this at first, since I was staying by Master Wu's bedside. When I looked at him, I knew that something was wrong. He'd never slept this much, and I could tell that mom was worried over what was happening with him.

There were several times that Wu would wake up and try to tell me something, then pass out again. The worst was when he looked at me and tried to tell me the secret to being a 'true master.' He passed out in the middle of it, which was kinda frustrating. The longer that it happened, though, the more I felt like something was really wrong. I don't know why, but I just was getting a really bad feeling about it.

Seeing Wu like that started to make me worry about my future. I wanted to become a Master, but right now Wu was hurt. Wu had caused all this by going to the Monastery alone to fight Acronix. If he'd taken any of us, even just me, we might have been able to stop him from getting the Time Blade and ended this. Krux was planning this for a long time, yes, but he didn't know about the Time Blades emerging when they did, or at least I don't think he did. He was plotting something, but Acronix coming back was what started his plans. At first, I was angry at Wu knowing that this was his fault.

The longer that I saw him like that, sick and barely able to think, the more I started to think about myself. If that had been me in that situation, would I have tried to end it on my own? When the Golden Master took my powers, Zane had been the one to step up for me. If I could have, I would've fought him on my own, even if it meant that I had to sacrifice myself. If I could have put myself into the Cursed Realm instead of my father to stop Chen, then I would've made Wu read the spell myself. And with Morro… with Morro the entire time that I'd been under his control, I knew that it was my fault that I let him get as far as he did. Everything that happened with him was because I wasn't strong enough to stop him from possessing me in the first place. If I could have found a way to stop that alone, would I?

In the moment, I always chose to do things with my friends. I relied on them and made sure that they were there and working with me. But, what if when I grew older, I didn't? My dad said that one day my friends could have grown to covet my Golden Power, and that was when I had barely any of it left. One day, I could be left alone, my friends could be turned against me or I might just have messed up so badly I would try to fix it myself. Would I make a mistake as badly as Wu did, one day?

I still don't know. I wish I did, but I don't. I'm still working to become a Master, even if what happened with the Twins put that on hold for a long time. Sometimes, it feels like my future is just going to continue being a string of dangers that won't stop coming. Seeing Wu in bed like that just sparked all sorts of worries in my head. One day, would I be someone like Wu, my father, or someone entirely different?

At this point, Nya managed to get a copy of Zane's last recorded memory and slow it down to find out that Acronix had survived and attacked him, as well as that Dr. Saunders was actually Krux. At the same time, Kai had taken the helmet of one of the Vermillion and went to figure out more about it at the museum. Since Krux had just taken Borg prisoner, Kai walked in at just the wrong time for them, and Krux had to pose as Dr. Saunders to try to get him to leave. It was during all of this that Krux was so eager to get him to leave he accidently revealed himself.

...Okay, something I feel the need to point out here. Kai said that Dr. Saunders hit something and ripped off his silly mustache and glasses, and Kai identified him from the painting that we'd seen. The thing is, Kai said he recognized Krux from the green markings that he had around his eyes. But… I always thought that was makeup, right? Kai said Krux had those on when he got back up, so… how did ripping off his mustache make his eye mask, thingy come back? This was also another reason why Krux shouldn't have hung up the painting in the first place, since we wouldn't have even known who the Time Twins were if he hadn't done that. It was sort of like hiding a clue to your real identity in plain sight.

Cole and Jay went to try to stop the Vermillion, but were caught up with Cole's lava arms acting up. The Vermillion got away, and the Time Twins had gotten both of their first steps of their plan done without a hitch. Acronix had a time blade and we had new enemies to deal with, and we had a slithering suspicion that it was only about to get worse from there.

* * *

"Let's stop there," Lloyd told Zane, "I'm kinda out of things to talk about with this."

"Of course," Zane nodded, transcribing down what he said, "I'll have finished cleaning up our recordings up through the end of Chen's invasion by tonight. If all goes well, we'll have your book ready for final revisions by the time you finish talking about the most recent set of events."

"Good," Lloyd sighed, "Thanks for doing that, Zane. I know that I'm not always the most… well, I know that I'm not always the best talker."

"Many people would say that they are not as well," Zane smiled, "It is more important to get across your true feelings on the situation before worrying about readability. An autobiography should be true to the person it is about, rather than the audience that reads it."

"Yeah, yeah," Lloyd sighed, "...Hey uh, Zane? Can I ask you something?"

"I am listening," Zane informed him.

"What I was talking about in my chapters, about the whole thing with my future…" He paused, "Who… Who do you think I'll grow up to be?"

"Besides who you are now?" Zane asked back, "You have been true to yourself since you became the Green Ninja, Lloyd"

"I mean as a Master, as a ninja, all that," Lloyd bit his lip, "Who do you think I'm going to be?"

Zane gave a pause to gather this thoughts, "I think that you will be who you wish to be, Lloyd. Since you have become a ninja, you've always been determined to be someone that others can look up to. Even now, in your chapters you express the desire to be the best person you can be. If that is true, then I believe you will grow to be a great and true Master."

Lloyd bit his lip, "But… I've made mistakes. I made bit ones. I let the Overlord off the Dark Island and, I let you down with the Golden Master. How can you know that I'm going to grow up to be someone that's… you know, a good MasteR?"

"Because those that wish to become something great are the ones that truly do," Zane told him, "I know you will keep your heart in the right place, Lloyd. You have nothing to fear about your future, as long as you continue to strive to be someone you can be proud of."

Lloyd was quiet for a moment, taking that in. After doing the chapter, he'd needed to hear that. Actually getting to hear it helped him more than he knew he did. He looked up to Zane, giving him another warm and friendly smile.

"You really do know what to say, Zane," Lloyd chuckled, "It's just like when we first started writing this book."

"I have had these thoughts myself, Lloyd," Zane looked up, "Knowing that my father built me to protect others places an expectation on me. To realize my true potential and myself after losing my original body to the Golden Master, I was forced to ask myself that very question. I have come to terms with it, yet I know that is partially due to who I am. To know who you are yourself is something that is key to knowing where you will end up."

"Maybe you should be the Master, Zane," Lloyd smirked, "You're the one that seems to know what he's talking about."

"I would say the same to you, Lloyd," Zane stood up, "Wisdom is a matter of perspective, not just experience."

"Heh, I guess you're right," Lloyd stretched out, "Same time tomorrow?"

"I will be waiting," Zane informed him.


	33. Slow Start, Fast Stop

After the ninja got back from the temple, I learned about the kidnapping of the people. At that point, the actions that the snakes went through made no sense. Those that were kidnapped know that the Time Twins were building something, but we had no clue at the time. With the confusion as to who exactly was taken, it was hard to figure out a pattern between the victims. It wasn't until we later actually found the headquarters that the Vermillion that we figured out they were all people that worked in construction and craftsmanship. The most important thing, though, was figuring out how we were going to find them.

The pushback the team started to give me about being the leader, however, started then. Master Wu was still in bed, and that meant that we didn't have a Master to fall back on. With this in mind,I told the team that since I was technically training to be a Master (even if Wu wasn't really doing anything for me) then logically I would be the one that would take control of the group. Looking back on it, I sort of went about doing that in a very selfish-sounding way.

The others weren't exactly happy about that, and immediately they tried to take me down a peg by making sure to refer to me as "Temporary Master Lloyd In-Training." I get why they were upset, but it just felt kinda… insulting. I understand the 'temporary' part since I was just filling in until Master Wu was up again, but taking on that last bit of 'in-training' was just unnecessary. And it didn't help that they didn't want to listen to me at all either.

Since we didn't know hardly anything about the Twins, my first goal was to figure out where they took the people. I went as far as to make this whole presentation about places they could be, and my goal was to try and get the others to chime in and we'd work together. I know that some places do that, and I wasn't sure so I wanted a second opinion. The entire time I was doing it, Jay was working to mess with me over and over again. I couldn't get through one sentence without him squeaking a chair or slurping on something or just doing something to throw me off.

I get that on some level, it's hard to accept me as a leader like that. I more or less just volunteered myself for the role, so I didn't start off on the best foot. But I was just as much a ninja as they were. I didn't want to play a card like "I went and defeated the ultimate evil!" or something like that, since that would just be abusing my accomplishments. But the way that they just seemed to brush me aside like that just felt, wrong. It felt like they were intentionally trying to make me angry! I wanted to be a good leader, but that was hard to do when it felt like they were ignoring everything I said.

During this, the Vermillion started up their plan to start stealing scrap metal. We'd anchored the temple nearby Ninjago City so we could be close to where everything was happening, and Ronin came to warn us about what was happening. Apparently, both him and Dareth had been attacked. The idea of them stealing metal, however, didn't make sense. This was literally a day after they'd been kidnapping people, so showing themselves again and now stealing something else just didn't make sense. Because of this, I told the ninja that we needed to stay and figure out their plan instead of blindly rushing in.

The others didn't like that. They just ignored me. They all stood up and went to leave. When I told them that staying here was an order, Kai just told me that he was disobeying that order. Ronin left too, leaving me alone. Having them just throw back my order like that was enough that I felt genuinely angry for the first time in a long time.

I didn't want to try to throw around my power as a Master like that. I didn't want them to think that my entire goal with them was to just order them around, but at that moment I was confused. I know that it's their thing to rush in and figure out what's going on later, but everything that happened had been so confusing that I wanted to know more before we went in. We didn't even know what the Vermillion were called. All we knew was they were working with the Twins -one of whom we only just discovered was still alive- and that they'd kidnapped people. Now they wanted metal!

I was so angry with them that I didn't follow them. If I went with them, I'd just be proving them right. So, while the ninja went and tried to stop them, which didn't work, I was left to go back to watching over Master Wu. I knew I couldn't do anything for him, and it was at that point I realized that I didn't even have to since mom was there to take care of him. But I wanted to do something, otherwise I'd feel like I was just… just nothing. After getting Zane hurt and knowing it was partially my fault, I didn't want to make any mistakes again. I didn't want to keep messing up.

I knew I should have left, but I didn't. I didn't want to prove the others right. I was so upset that I ended up just staring off at the city while it was being attacked. That just made me feel guilty on top of feeling angry. I kept having to tell myself the others were out there, but then that meant that I wasn't even there to help them, which made it worse. I didn't know why something so simple as just, wanting them to stay behind for a little bit had rattled me so much.

I think part of it was because Master Wu was sick. Knowing that he wasn't there to help me put pressure on me to want to be someone the others could look up to. I wanted them to see me as a Master. Since this was also around the time that I was trying to push Wu to help make me a Master and not getting anything to show for it, I felt like I then had to also make my own path. I had to do something to make myself a Master, and figuring out this weird plan and everything that came with it just felt like a natural part of it!

While I was there with Master Wu, earlier Wu had been lucid enough to say that he wished that 'you' had been there when he fought Acronix. To me, that made me feel even more guilty. I was watching the city when my mom asked me if I was worried, and I of course lied and said I was worried about Master Wu. When she pushed me on me being worried about the others, I tried saying that I felt like leaving Master Wu's side would be a bad thing to do, since he'd said that he wished that I was there when he fought Acronix. Wu became lucid enough again to tell me that he had meant the team, all of us, and that I hadn't disappointed him.

After all that time stewing in my own feelings, I told Wu about how I felt upset that the first time I'd tried to be a Master, I'd messed up. I felt like I'd made a mistake and I wanted to know what to do. Of course, that had to be the exact moment that he fell back asleep, leaving my mom to come and actually give me advice for the first time in… way too long. She told me that every master makes mistakes, and that Wu even made some of his own.

Hearing that more or less was enough to make me get over myself, I think. I was still angry at them for not hearing me out, but right now wasn't the time for me to be sulking. I wanted to go out and help them, and that happened to be the exact moment that the power substation was turned off. That was enough to give me an idea of where to go, so I decided I'd go and fix my mistake now by helping the team when I didn't before. I raced off to go help them.

I know it sounds like I turned around quickly, but I knew that I had to go and help them. The more I waited around, the worse that everything would get. I had to do something, and I told myself that a true Master would know when he made a mistake. I knew that I hadn't introduced myself as a Master in the smartest way, so I needed to prove myself. If I went and helped them, then maybe they wouldn't' treat me like I was just being silly.

I was there before the rest of them, and that was when I apologized to them. I figured that I needed them to know that I was in the wrong. I was a little shocked to hear Kai apologizing for being rude to me earlier like that. I knew that it would take time for me to be a Master. If I would have to work to prove myself to them, then so be it. Part of my Master training that I think I'm still going through today is growing up and learning when I can be a better leader. Just because what I say is right, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Now, at this point Zane was actually partially reactivated. Nya had gotten him partially online, which meant that he was more or less aware of everything but gibbering nonsense. When we got into the substation, I got to see the powers of the Vermillion firsthand. The snakes had cobbled together bodies out of office supplies and bits of the substation itself, meaning that fighting them was about as easy as fighting a giant pile of toys that rush out of a stuffed closet.

The true strength of the Vermillion isn't really their ability to regenerate, since there are ways to block them. I think what made them so tough was how powerful they were when it came to adapting. Since they were just small snakes, they could do whatever they wanted. If we beat one form of them, we'd just be attacked by another weird thing of parts and snakes. Their ability to regenerate is just there to make you tired. You can learn how to beat each form of Vermillion, but the more that they grow and adapt to your fighting style, the harder it gets. They're made to overwhelm you, not beat you.

We managed to defeat them and turn the substation back on by using Zane and a turbine to create a magnet and suck all the armor away from the snakes. The shock of this was actually enough to unscramble Zane's crazy circuits. Once you take away the armor the snakes have, then they're easy to deal with. The snakes aren't made to fight like that, so they normally retreat. But, as long as they have something they can crawl into and fight you with, then they're a threat.

It was just after we'd finished turning the power back on that we heard about Mega Monster Amusement Park being attacked. That was enough to tell us that something had gone wrong, or more so that we'd been played. The power being turned off was just a distraction to take us way from the action. We raced over as quickly as we could. We still didn't get why they wanted scrap metal, but that wasn't important. Jay told us later he realized that if they were after metal than his parent's junkyard was in danger and left.

I know that the footage that the news got of us at the park wasn't exactly the best. Part of what happened was the Vermillion split into two teams, one focused on pinning us and the other focused on getting the metal. Since there were so many people around, we had to worry about them first. The majority of the battle was so hectic we didn't even realize Jay wasn't there until a lot later in the battle.

When we got to the park, I started giving orders as to how to fight. This was when I noticed that none of them had issues with them. I think that, since we were fighting together and I was giving them the plan to go in and just fight, it was easier to give orders. I guess part of being a leader is making sure to make plans that play to your group's strengths. With how well the battle at the substation went as a team, I was feeling good about this one.

Since the Vermillion just kept coming at us and we had to keep saving people, we were fighting for hours. By the time that we realized that they were gone, we'd already been exhausted. I remember at one point I saved a kid named Johnny that knew my name, that felt kinda nice. That was really the only specific thing I remember before it happened.

In the span of a few seconds, the entire course of the battle changed. The second Time Blade, the slow blade, landed. From what I get, after the first Time Blade landed, Krux's plan had changed from simply conquering Ninjago with the Vermillion to getting the Time Blades for his big plan. The Vermillion that were at the park were immediately called away to go and get the slow blade, leaving us to deal with feeling time slow down for a few seconds after the blade first landed. While we were all picking ourselves up, Zane detected the location of the blade.

Okay, now this is something I have to point out. Borg not only put all sorts of weird stuff in the Borg watch, but he also put a temporal anomaly scanner. He literally put a scanner inside of his watch that scanned for disturbances in _time._ Scanning for issues in traffic, sure. Health, maybe. But… but why time? I wouldn't care so much, but the reason the Vermillion were able to hear right there was because Acronix's stolen watch picked up the blade's location! It's such a random thing to have in there… I don't even know why he had it! Sometimes I think that Borg is just a few steps away from becoming a villain with how many evil plots he'd wrapped up in.

We all got on our vehicles and left the park. By the time we caught up to the Vermillion, they were almost at the blade. We were close to stopping them, but one of the generals used snakes to literally clog up our engines and crash up. I was in the Raider Jet myself, and the snakes started attacking me from inside the console and I was forced to bail. While the snakes themselves aren't usually able to do much, they were versatile like I said.

Now, the Vermillion generals got the blade first and used it to demonstrate to us the power of the slow blade. We rushed in as quickly as we could while they were figuring out how to use it, and we were about to perform a team Spinjitzu attack when the orange general figured out how to trap us in a bubble of time. When it happened, it felt like the world around us was moving in slow motion. In reality, we were, but everything around us looked like it was happening like you stretched out a video. It was enough to throw us off, and we were quickly surrounded. The Vermillion were just waiting for us to tire out to finally take us out.

This was when Jay arrived. From what I understand, Jay had fended off the Vermillion but they'd captured his mom and then drove off with vehicles from the scrapyard and the park. Jay and his dad used an early birthday gift to Jay to make a bike they used to catch up to us and help rescue his mother. I was so focused on the blade I didn't notice Ms. Walker was actually captured until Nya pointed it out to me. In order to stop Jay, the general just let the blade hit the ground and make a giant bubble around everything to slow us all down. So long as the Vermillion could see him coming, they could make a plan to stop him.

This was when Jay used a little trick that made the bike somewhat cool. By charging it up with his lightning powers, he was able to somewhat bypass the effects of the blade, knock the blade out of the general's hands, and save his mother. In doing so he had to let his father off the bike (I don't get why he brought his dad in the first place to be honest), but he let us have a chance. We were able to reclaim the blade and, after making the others stop playing keep-away, able to to grab Mr. Walker and run. Jay couldn't slow down and went speeding off into the distance.

Thankfully, the jet that I crashed wasn't damaged enough not to work. I got my first taste of using the Time Blade to slow down the Vermillion coming at us. Using it worked like using my powers; you think of what you want it to do, and then the blade will do it. By slowing them down, we took the blade and managed to escape just as they came out of the effects of the blade. We sped off into the distance with both Jay's dad and the balde in tow.

We still had no idea what the plan was, and we'd failed to stop the Vermillion from stealing metal, but we'd managed to both secure a Time Blade and rescue the people that were under attack. For now, we had a victory on our hands. I'd managed to prove to my friends I could be a Master and leader, and they seemed to agree. After all that'd gone wrong, I felt pretty good.

If I'd known that it was just a slow start to our biggest fall, I wouldn't have felt so proud of myself.

* * *

"Was that truly how they reacted to you?" Zane asked as Lloyd finished up.

"To me declaring myself the Master?" Lloyd asked, "Erm… kinda, yeah. I mean, like I said it was kinda my fault. I came off as someone that wanted the position but was acting like I didn't."

"I see," Zane paused, "You managed to learn a great deal from such a setback, Lloyd. I do not condone the way that the others reacted, but I believe you handled the situation well."

"I kinda… didn't, though," Lloyd pointed out, "I went and left everyone to go and get upset."

"That does not mean that you handled it poorly," Zane nodded, "You were able to recognize a flaw in yourself and act on it. By apologizing to them, you were able to see that you were at fault. Many would simply put the blame on them, yet you rose up to see your own part to play and corrected it."

"Erm… I mean, I guess you're right," Lloyd coughed nervously, "I just told then what I felt…"

"If you continue to make judgements like that, then you will be a fine Master," Zane smiled.

Lloyd felt a little bit of relief and embarrassment go through him. Zane, seeing them, went quiet to let Lloyd process everything he was hearing. When Lloyd finished blushing, Zane sat up to start leaving.

"Oh, Zane!" Lloyd stood up, "There's actually something I wanted to ask you. Well, two things. Mind if I do?"

"You do not need to ask permission first with me, Lloyd," Zane chuckled, "I trust that you would only ask things that you wish to know."

"Yeah," Lloyd paused, "So… do you remember anything from all that time you were all, you know, messed up?"

Zane suddenly gained a bit of an embarrassed look on his face, "I do not. My memory circuits were not functioning at the time. It was the shock of the turbine that brought them back into alignment."

"Really?" Lloyd paused, "Do you ever get upset knowing that you can get messed up like that?"

"It is part of the body that I have," Zane shook his head at Lloyd, "I am no more upset about it as you would be at getting sick with a cold. It is something that I must deal with."

"Right, right," Lloyd nodded, "Second thing, do you want me to mention anything about Pixal?"

"You will likely talk about Samurai X next chapter, then?" Zane paused, "I do not think so. Say whatever thoughts you have about it."

"Really?" Lloyd paused, "I mean, they aren't bad thoughts, I just wanted to check since, you know, you were worried about all of that at the time."

"It is your book, Lloyd," Zane smiled, waving his hand to leave, "Write it how you want. I will listen to all your thoughts, good or bad."

Lloyd nodded, feeling some relief go through him at that. With that said, he left the room, gathering his thoughts for what would be the next part of this particular part of his book.


	34. Untimely Setbacks

So, remember how last chapter I said that I felt like I was becoming a Master, and that we had successfully taken the Time Blade? I think if there's something I should learn, it's that we're only allowed to have something good happen to us right before the end of fighting a new villain.

After we recovered the slow blade, we took it back to our temple. I told the guys not to mess with the blade while I went and gave my report to Master Wu. Wu was still more or less in and out of everything, so much so he fell asleep in the middle of my report. Even though I was happy that we had a victory, I knew that something was still very wrong with him. Mom wouldn't tell me, so I decided to just go and try and figure out our next step of the plan.

The first thing I saw was Jay, Cole and Zane all playing around with the slow blade. Now, after seeing more of them, it seems that the Time Blades work on a recharging cycle, so you can use the blade maybe three or four times before you have to let it recharge. At the time, however, I was afraid that if we used the blade too much then we might actually cause some real damage. I mean, the last time that the ninja messed with time, it led to the Megaweapon (that I still don't think actually exists), so we needed not to mess this up.

I was pretty upset, so I told them that something that valuable wouldn't be so easily conceded. The first thing Cole does? Nag at me! Honestly, that made me more angry than I think it would now. I'd assumed we'd gotten past this whole dumb stuff with me being a 'Master in Training' and all that. I'd led us into battle and gotten us a victory. The fact that they were already back to treating me like I was just a little kid was getting pretty old.

But then, right after that, Master Wu got up from bed to come and talk to us, and guess what he said? Literally the same thing I did! And when Wu said it, suddenly the guys thought to listen to him. Thinking back, that still makes me angry. If this had been before they'd first written me off as a Master, then sure, maybe I'd be more understanding. But I thought we were already past this. It turned out that they weren't ready to give it up just yet.

I understand that saying it like that makes me seem like I'm just a little kid upset that the other kids won't listen to me. But, I'd already saved Ninjago at that point. Again, I hate to just leverage my accomplishments, but I defeated the _Overlord _and saved all of them in the process! I just, I don't understand why suddenly they picked then to be upset at me wanting to take a more active role. We'd defeated Morro, Cole was back to being normal, at the time it felt like the perfect change. Part of why I don't call myself a Master now or tell anyone I'm in training to be one is partially because the guys just made me feel stupid for wanting it in the first place.

Right in the middle of Wu telling them off for the things I was already telling them were wrong was when the Twins made their attack on us. This was when we got a taste of just how easy it was to deploy Vermillion into battle. Since we were on a floating temple in the sky, it was impossible for them to just march up on us. Instead, the Twins used catapults to launch cocoons up at us that broke apart and had the snakes, armor and weapons inside. In just three launches, we had an entire squad of Vermillion outfitted and ready to attack us.

By that point, we had a good grasp on how to defeat them. Our goal was to protect the slow blade, and so we did. We rushed out and beat the first wave with Spinjitzu, which we found out made the snakes so dizzy they didn't want to immediately get back into the armor. The first wave only took a few seconds to beat, which made us feel pretty good about ourselves.

...This was immediately followed by the snakes getting another volley of metal to make a gigantic 'big guy' to come and attack us. Like I said, the biggest thing the Vermillion had going for them was the fact they were versatile. When you beat a few of them, they could just change into something else to beat you. Kai and Nya found a way to lure it off and throw it over the side of the temple, but that didn't mean the battle was over yet. It wasn't even that long before we had more Vermillion on top of us. When you combine the Vermillion being versatile and perfect in a massive army, they were near impossible to keep beating back over and over again.

Now, this isn't exactly one of my finest moments. I knew that we couldn't just keep fighting up there like that, since eventually one of the waves would just overwhelm us by tiring us out. They were firing the cocoons from tanks down below, so if we were able to get down there and disable them, we'd have the advantage. This just so happens to be a time I conveniently remembered I had my Elemental Dragon. I would have used the Bounty but… oh, right, the Bounty was taken down. Honestly, the Bounty gets destroyed so much that at this point it's more worrying to see it flying. The Vermillion just pelted it until it went down, making us have to use our dragons.

The thing about Elemental Dragons is you have to focus to use them. The group acted like I was crazy going out there, and I know that Jay still teases me about what happened. When I was going down, the Twins sent up Vermillion outfitted with flying gear to come and attack me. One of them managed to get behind me and startle me, which dropped my focus enough through fear and made my dragon disappear. And, once you're hurtling through the air, it's impossible to focus enough on getting your dragon back. The only time I managed to do it was over Chen's island. Any of the ninja that claim they can pull that trick off, don't believe them.

I would have likely hit the ground and not be writing this book had Samurai X not come to save me. Now, this is something that's somewhat less known: Samurai X was supposed to be put away after Nya joined our team. I know a lot of people assume that the current Samurai X is the same one that's been around since the Serpentine were attacking the city, but that's not true. It used to be Nya, and after the incident with Morro, Samurai X was basically hung up like a sword after a war. After all that happened, Nya wasn't supposed to be Samurai X anymore. So, it was pretty shocking being grabbed by them.

Now, the current identity of Samurai X is Pixal. I made sure when I first started talking about her way back during the Golden Master chapters that she would be okay with me saying that. The main reason that she's good with that was because she only needed to hide who she was because she didn't want us getting hurt. Now… the fact that we get involved with some new villain almost every few months makes that reasoning a little weird to me, but nonetheless Pixal is another member of our team that, now, feels like has been around a lot longer than she really was.

Remember how I said that Zane was knocked out by Acronix when I sent him to go and protect Borg? Well, Pixal got so fed up with waiting for Nya to reboot him that she decided to instead use the Samurai X cave to build a new body for herself and take up the Samurai X gear to help us. She didn't say anything to us at first, even after dropping me back off at the temple. I still think that she could have told us from the beginning, since it wasn't like we were powerless. The logic of "if you know my identity then people close to me will get hurt" doesn't really hold up when the people that might get hurt, are already in danger. I mean, the only people that she could have been referring to were Borg -who was captured- and Zane -who had already gotten hurt. So, I mean, it's weird she decided to hide it from us… I still don't fully get it.

The biggest issue this had was on Zane. Zane had been using Pixal to help for a long time, so having her just disappear made him rather nervous. I mean, I would be too if a part of me just, disappeared for no reason. Pixal being Samurai X is something that I don't really associate with the Time Twin stuff now, even though this was when it happened. I more so remember Zane being nervous without her than her actually helping us. Maybe it was because she was more so having to prove herself to Nya, so I only got to see her when she saved me the first time and at the very, very end of this. It was somewhat, weird, sort of like it just wasn't really that big of deal? I mean, no offense to Pixal, but it was pretty obvious that she was Samurai X from the beginning when she came back.

Okay, okay, I meant to talk about Pixal later, let's get back to the topic at hand. So, the Time Twins came to attack us and reclaim the blade themselves, right after the Vermillion knocked Samurai X out of the sky. The Twins were pretty fierce, and I remember that the first thing one of them did (it's hard to tell when they have hoods on since they wear identical armor) was go after Wu who had the slow blade. Wu had come out to help advise us in the battle. Kai had gotten him to see something with the Vermillion helmet he was carrying around, and kept trying to get Wu to tell him what was important about it. The battle with the Twins was intense, but I think what's important was the end of it.

By a stroke of luck, someone got a lucky shot on the Twins and sent the forward blade flying. I caught it along with the slow blade, meaning that we'd managed to take both of the Time Blades. In that moment, we had basically beaten the Twins. Kai (who had tried to save me) and Samurai X had taken out the Vermillion that could fly, I'd wrecked their tanks, and we had the Time Blades now. We'd basically won. I don't like thinking back on this moment a lot, since this was actually one of my most embarrassing ones. We thought we'd won, the Twins were on the ground in front of us, and we had decided to celebrate.

Then… one of the Vermillion generals swooped in, stole the Time Blades, captured Master Wu, and then got away.

That's what happened. I'm not even kidding. It was literally all of a minute when we went from winning to just, not! I'm honestly, really, angry about that. Everytime we have a victory, it never lasts. We can't win unless it's at the very end. We can beat the bad guy to whatever they want, defend the people, whatever we want, and yet we will still have to lose. We will _always_ lose when it comes to these things. And at that moment, being humiliated like that? I wasn't exactly feeling anything good towards the Time Twins when we realized what happened.

I think it was the fact that they decided to take Master Wu that makes it sting so badly. It wasn't just that they got what they came for, but they did something they didn't even need to. They were just rubbing salt in our wounds. When we all realized how badly we'd messed up, it was almost like a wake up call to us. We had to step up our game now and stop the Twins. They'd attacked us, won, and then humiliated us.

The entire time that I was working to make a plan afterwards, I was barely holding in how utterly angry I was. After all of the stuff with the guys messing around with me as a Master, with them treating me like I was just some sort of kid, and now losing like that after I'd been so sure we finally had a break, I just… I just wanted to hit something, really hard. But we didn't have time to waste, so I didn't. I took us right to the planning room, even if Kai was acting like a jerk the entire time we were working something up.

The only good news about the entire thing was that we realized that the Time Twins would be taking back the blades to their headquarters, so we could try to scan for them. Since it seemed like everyone had a Temporal Anomaly Scanner (thanks, Borg), we could track them. Of course, Zane's was broken during the fight with the Vermillion, so we had to go on something else. We ultimately split up, with Zane, Cole, Jay and I going to the Museum to investigate things about Krux while Kai and Nya worked on getting the scanner back up on the Bounty.

In order to get there, I got what was probably the coolest birthday present I never use: the Destiny's Shadow. It was basically a miniature version of the Destiny's Bounty that was made to be more like a little ship to help carry us around rather than a headquarters. Like, you know in cartoons when one ship has a smaller ship detach from it? It's sort of like that, but without the detaching. Mom said it was a present she gave me early, and honestly it's the best one I could have ever asked for. Sadly, it's another addition in amazing vehicles that we get that just seem to disappear after we use them. Like, I want to say more about it, but I never got to use it long enough to really have anything more to say about it than this.

So, anyways. We went to the museum and, thanks to Cole messing around with his lava arms, we discovered Krux's hidden room where he had first started breeding the Vermillion and, more importantly, an entrance into the sewers under Ninjago City. From what I understand, the sewers were built a very, very long time ago, and they were basically more like paved caves than sewers. Because of this, they extended far beyond the city. If the Twins were using these tunnels to hide away their soldiers, then it could have led to their main base. Because of this, we called the Shadow down to us and followed the tunnels.

It was during this that we ran into someone that I didn't think I'd see again: Skales. Not only him, but his son. It turned out that they were tracking the Vermillion movements. Skales told us that the Vermillion were actually the offspring of the Great Devourer, and that meant that if enough of them were together, they would make a horde that would basically destroy Ninjago. This was, of course, something we had to stop.

There are two things that I wanted to say here. One, I still find it really upsetting that the Serpentine were basically forced into living underground like that. I mean… it wasn't exactly their fault, when I think about it. From what the ninja told me about the Serpentine legends, Chen basically played on their fear as an entire culture to make them enter into the Serpentine wars. Secondly, it was really Pythor that made the minto a force that Ninjago had to fear. The second that they were locked away again, they abandoned their wars which, made me think they maybe didn't want to even have them in the first place. I feel bad thinking that I'm partially to blame for locking an entire civilization underground, afraid if they came to the surface that they would be persecuted and treated like subhumans.

The second thing was this was the first time I met Skales Jr. He was a pretty cool kid, a little sassy but I could see how he and Skales were related. I don't have much to say other than that, but I wanted a little positive bit in here somewhere. Here's to hoping that Skales Jr. gets to grow up into a cool Serpentine, I guess!

So, thanks to Skales, we had a map of the Vermillion's movements and, more importantly, right to their base. We followed it all the way to the entrance to the swamps north of the city, where we found out that the warriors we'd been fighting were nothing more than an advanced guard. The entire swamp had been turned into nothing more than a breeding round, with hundreds of snakes no matter where we looked. We'd found the Time Twins' base. After some setbacks, we were ready to get in there and see how we could stop the Twins.

It turns out, I wasn't going to be the one that would do it this time.

* * *

"Ugh…" Lloyd sighed, "Let's just use that one for this chapter."

"Are you certain?" Zane asked, "I have the previous three recordings still saved. We can use sections of each one if you like."

"No, let's just use this one," Lloyd stretched his arms over his head, "This one I actually finished."

"I see," Zane paused, "Lloyd, where is your difficulty in recording this chapter coming from, if you have any ideas?"

Lloyd leaned forward, a curious look on his face. For some reason, doing this chapter had taken way more tries than he'd like to admit it did. Each time he'd tried, something else had tripped him up until he'd ended up with this chapter as it was.

"Just, everything about this thing feels weird," Lloyd groaned, "I don't know what it is! It's like, all that happened just, didn't happen like it should have? Maybe I'm just upset about the fact that the guys were just, ignoring me the entire time. You were basically the only one that wasn't acting like I was some idiot for wanting to be a Master, and you weren't even there for the first half of it!"

"I have thought about that," Zane leaned forward, "And compiled a theory on it. Would you like to hear it?" Lloyd nodded.

"I believe that the pushback that you were facing was due to the accelerated nature of your growth," Zane began, "You went from a child to being the savior of Ninjago very quickly. Because of that, the others still saw you, in some way, as a child. Seeing you as part of the team was something that we have all come to expect after training you, yet you surpassed your training so quickly that, for many of our adventures, it was possible to think about other things. However, when you decided to step up and become a Master, their perception of you was stuck on the feeling of you being someone they had trained and helped grow, and were no ready to see you take a step and surpass them yet."

"...So, you're saying that they still thought of me as the kid they trained?" Lloyd summarized. Zane gave an affirmative nod.

"I don't know if that makes me feel better," Lloyd sighed, "That kinda makes it worse. After all that we went through, they still saw me as a kid?"

"To our knowledge, the last thing that happened to you, Lloyd, was the loss of your father and you being taken away from us by Morro," Zane told him, "After what happened with him, no matter how much we told ourselves this wasn't our fault, some blame still rested with us. I believe that blame manifested in a desire to keep you safe and apart of the team. When you attempted to step outside of that role, the others felt as though they were losing their grip on you. Thus, they pushed back to you being a leader."

"And, how did you think of this, Zane?" Lloyd asked, still a bit lost.

"Because, regardless of my actions, I shared their feelings," Zane put a hand to his chest, "In some ways, you are still a child to us, Lloyd. You grew up so quickly by sacrificing your childhood for Ninjago that to this day it is hard to see you as the grown up that you truly are. We simply strive to make sure that we treat you as one, rather than hold you back. I would like to ask that you forgive us if we wronged you in that time," Zane bowed his head, "It was not our intention."

Put on the spot like this, Lloyd found himself stunned for words. He thought for a few moments about what he truly wanted to say, but his lips kept finding no purchase to make sounds on. Instead, Lloyd thought for a moment, then rocked up to his feet.

"Hey, it's alright, Zane," Lloyd extended his hand to him, "It's already over with. Let's not worry about the past and think about other things. Like the fact that we got the bowling rink reserved tonight!" He smiled awkwardly, "I forgive you guys and, I don't hold grudges. Let's not think about it, okay?"

"If that is your wish, Lloyd," Zane extended his hand to hold onto Lloyd's own, "Thank you."

"No problem,." Lloyd coughed a bit, then tugged, "Come on, I'm ready to get out of here. Let's go and have some fun."


	35. The Battle I Didn't Even Fight In

I just realized when I went to sit down and talk about this, but I forgot that Kai and Nya's parents were even involved in all of this.

When I first met Kai, I assumed that he had parents somewhere like Jay. It wasn't until later that I learned that they'd basically disappeared. Kai told me about how he was forced to basically learn how to raise Nya and take over doing the blacksmithing shop too. At first, some friends of the family would watch over them and try to help them out (one of which must have gotten them babysitters), but eventually help dried up and Kai was forced to learn to grow up for his sister's sake. The reason that it took so long for me to realize was because Kai never really did talk about it, saying that it was something that he had to deal with and I didn't need to worry about.

Now, remember how I said that Krux was spat out of the Time Vortex just after he jumped back in? Apparently, his plan to take over Ninjago started then. He spent time developing his persona of Dr. Saunders, researching ways to get back at Wu. This eventually led him to discovering the Vermillion. In order to make his army, he'd need people that could outfit his soldiers with powerful armor. So, after he'd introduced himself to Kai's parents, he built up a friendship with them before revealing that he was Krux to them and threatening to hurt Kai and Nya if they didn't come and help him. This explained why they simply vanished, since Krux locked them away in the swamp and started forcing them to make armor and work on his plan.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure how Krux made his plan in the first place. Kai said that his dad told him Krux saw the same message Wu saw in the Time Vortex and knew when Acronix would return, but I don't think he could have known about the Time Blades returning when they did. So, I'm pretty sure that his plan of going back in time to destroy Wu and the Elemental Alliance in the past was one he came up with _after_ Acronix returned. But, then again Kai's dad was the one that made the design for Iron Doom. There were way too many Vermillion to have just started after the Great Devourer was destroyed… or at least, I think so. I don't know the lifespan of a snake like that. He was breeding them for a long time, at least. So, maybe? But, I'm pretty sure his plan with the Iron Doom was there from the start, and the time travel thing came later. His original plan _had_ to be to make the Vermillion, since he needed those two for that. But, I guess I'm not quite sure how he figured out the Time Blade stuff.

But, anyways, back to Kai's parents. So, during the fight at the Borgstore, Kai found that each helmet was stamped with a mark that he found familiar, so he kept spending all his free time figuring out what it was. This all started when Kai fought Krux at the museum and first found out about him, when Krux messed with Kai by telling him that his parents were traitors to Wu and the alliance. After we fought them again to get the slow blade, he found out that each warrior had the stamp and that Wu recognized it. Wu was captured before he could tell Kai what it meant, but Kai remembered it. It turned out each stamp of Vermillion armor had the mark of his father's blacksmith shop on it, and he even went back home to prove it. This led him to thinking that his parents were traitors and that they had to still be alive.

The reason that I haven't mentioned them is that they… didn't, really do anything. Like, I know that they did things for Kai and Nya, but I didn't even meet them until this was all over. From what I understand, while we were working to try to stop the Twins, Kai found his parent's blacksmithing shop in the swamp, found out the truth, and then he, Nya and his parents were captured by the Twins and forced to go get a Time Blade that had been hidden away all this time. The most I can say about his parents was that they seemed like nice people, but that's it. Given that they just… disappeared after we beat the Twins (or, Kai and Nya did), I didn't even get to know them that much. Honestly, thinking about them, they kinda just… didn't feel important to the whole Time Twins thing. We didn't know about Kai's struggle since he didn't say anything, so other than this recap I can't say anything else.

So, I've normally split up talking about the end of a lot of these adventures into multiple chapters, but since I wasn't even involved in a lot of what happened here with the final fight against the Twins, I'm going to combine it all into one chapter instead. I know it sounds kinda weird to do that, but here's the thing: I didn't beat the Time Twins.

From the moment that we found the swamp to when Kai and Nya joined back up with up is somewhat a big blur to me. A lot of what happens blends together for me. It's all very… odd. I think to understand why, I need to explain what happened from the start. Maybe I can get across why this all felt so weird when I'm done?

Okay, so we had just found the swamp, and I made us a plan. Zane was to go after Cyrus Borg, Jay and Cole to go and free the people that were kidnapped, I would get Master Wu, and Kai and Nya -who returned just as I was telling the plan- would go and find the Twins and keep them off of us. It turns out Kai just went right off to confront his parents, so that part of the plan didn't happen, but the rest of us were dedicated to it. I wanted this to be a stealth operation, so I ordered them not to engage with the Vermillion if they could. There were too many of them to agitate.

A few of you know that Jay and Cole ended up trying to get the people out using the scrap metal to make a ladder, but thanks to Jay's overeagerness to get out he broke it and alerted the guards. They instead just fought their way to the guards and led the people to the Shadow and got them back to the city. Zane, meanwhile, wasn't able to find Borg, since the Time Twins took him with them to ensure he didn't mess up the task they gave him. Sadly, I didn't exactly have much luck either.

When I found the holding cell (Skales' map saved us a lot of time), Wu was gone. The two Vermillion I think were generals came back and told me that, of all things, they were having a lunch break and had taken Wu with them to make sure they didn't lose him. Honestly, I was kinda insulted that they just went off and had lunch like that. I didn't question at the time why they could talk but no other Vermillion did, I think they have a hive mind and the generals were just special? Either way, I don't think it matters.

They took off running with Wu, so I chased after them. The entire thing was really stupid. Like, they managed to get away from me, and when I caught up with them they ended up sending Wu (who was tied to a wheelchair) down towards a giant pit. I fought them off and went to dive for Wu right before he dropped, and that was when I felt time pause.

The Time Twins had managed to predict the emergence of the pause blade using Borg's watch (Thanks. Borg.) and had taken Borg with them to make sure he didn't sabotage the project they kidnapped him for. I remember it was odd, since I didn't know anything was happening when time was paused, but the second it was over I knew that something had just happened. It's like your perception of time just sort of gets back in sync with everything, I guess. Still, it was right when I dove for Wu, so next thing I knew I was holding Wu with one hand and holding a vine with the other to stop him from falling.

...And then, literally just as I got him back up and did the hard work of getting Wu back, those two Vermillion came back, ambushed me, and stole Wu. They knew the swamp better than I did, and I ended up getting lost. I'm still mad about that. They dropped him, I picked him up, and they stole him right when I thought I'd finally got him. I was on edge from the situation, so they didn't help me, at all.

Thankfully, I was lost in the right direction and found Zane. Once we met up, we found Jay and Cole getting swarmed by Vermillion. I made the decision to help them instead of going after Borg -who had just gotten back with the Twins from getting the pause blade- to instead help Jay and Cole. We got lucky with Jay electrifying the water and Zane making platforms for us to stay away from it. I was still a little angry at the two generals, so an easy fight like that was sort of what I needed. We took the armor and disguised ourselves to go and find Borg, which was when we learned of the plan in full. I should mention Borg came out swinging at us, which was pretty brave considering he was in a wheelchair and against the Vermillion. He was lucky the ones the swung at were the literal four Vermillion that weren't going to attack him.

Using the Time Blades, Borg had created a device that would use their energy to open up the Time Vortex that the Twins had first gone into, letting them travel in time. To that, they had Kai's dad make a massive shell called the Iron Doom, which would move when filled with Vermillion snakes. This basically meant that the Twins had a walking army that could go anywhere through time, no matter what. Their plan was to go back in time to right after they jumped into the Time Vortex, defeat Wu and Garmaodn with the Vermillion, and then assume control of time and turn Ninjago into their own kingdom to rule.

...Okay, so I have to say something. The Iron Doom is actually something that, the more I think about it, the scarier it gets. Since it's literally made of snakes and metal, there isn't really anything electronic inside to actually destroy. It's a mech, but it can deploy the snakes at any time and basically make an army on the spot. The Iron Doom _is_ the army. And it can travel in time. It's also huge, like at least five stories tall. Just the size of it alone could overwhelm any mech we ever made. I kinda wonder what it would be like in battle. I never got to see it do anything, and like, it's just so cool to think of!

But… this is where the issue of me not getting to even fight in this battle became a problem. As it turns out, the fourth Time Blade, the reversal blade, had landed with Krux and was found by Wu. In order to make sure it wouldn't ever get stolen, Wu had Kai's parents hide it in the Boiling Sea. And since that place requires someone that can use both fire and water to get to the blade, Krux and Acronix simply used Wu and their parents as leverage.

So, here's the thing: Borg said that if he could get to the top of the Iron Doom, he could plug in some sequence to permanently shut down the device he built. In order to make sure that the Twins didn't realize he'd put in a failsafe, Borg intentionally made sure to forget the code that he wanted to make. Because of that, we couldn't just sneak up and input it ourselves. So, we were about to go and take him when the generals showed up with the rest of the Vermillion army.

Now, I will just say this: we managed to fool the Vermillion into thinking we had obeyed the hive mind. We would have gotten all the way to the Iron Doom, had Jay not decided to say something when walking by the generals. Since Vermillion don't speak, that got us ousted. If that had been it, we likely wouldn't have made it out of there.

The thing is, that was when the new Samurai X, in the blue colors that Ninjago City know her for today, arrived. She had a new car (another cool vehicle that doesn't get used again) and told us they'd take Borg up for us. Because of this, we split up. I stayed to fight off the Vermillion with Jay and Cole, while Zane helped Samurai X to get Borg up to the top. This was the reason that I didn't even get a chance to determine the outcome of all of this.

I do want to thank Borg for making sure the sequence was 1300 digits long, rather than just, say, a hundred or so. If it had even been just one digit shorter, we would've won. But it took so long that the Time Twins returned from the Boiling Sea, without Kai and Nya, and having all four Time Blades. Just as they arrived, all the Vermillion stopped attacking and starting to march up to fill up the Iron Doom. They used the pause blade to knock Zane off just before he could put in the last digit and start up the Iron Doom.

Everything that happened next happened so fast, I didn't have time to react. The Time Vortex opened up in the sky and the Iron Doom started to rise up into it. A water and fire dragon shot out of the sky with Kai, Nya and Wu on it. Kai's parents jumped off the dragon just as they passed overhead. Then, the dragon shot up into the vortex just before the Iron Doom was gone and… then it was over.

Everything that happened next, was out of my hands. It was up to Kai and Nya, in the past, to stop the Twins. All we could do was just sit, and wait. We got to Kai's parents and went outside to see what was going on. The swamp was completely empty, and every last Vermillion warrior was inside of the Iron rest of us could literally do nothing but sit and just, wait.

From what I understand, Krux and Acronix appeared like they said they would, just after their past selves had jumped into the Time Vortex and then swiftly defeated the Elemental Alliance, forcing Wu to yield to them. Kai and Nya hid away on the Iron Doom and then helped out the alliance by pretending to be their parents. I, guess that would preserve time? I'm not sure how it works. But it didn't work, and the Twins managed to overpower the group and force Wu to yield to them. This immediately made all of time change.

...Okay, this is the weirdest thing. So, we were all standing in the swamp, Jay was trying to get Samurai X to tell us who they were, we learned that during the events of the Boiling Sea that Kai's dad had gotten hit with a time punch, and that we were trapped and couldn't do anything. We could see Ninjago City in the distance. In a split second, everything changed. The entire city looked like it'd never even developed. I could see the Temple of Fortitude, and all of the city looked like… old. And, at the same time all of our earpieces disappeared, Borg's watch was gone, and Zane looked like he did before all of this started.

And then, a minute later, it was all back to normal.

So, what I don't understand is how that happened. If time changed, wouldn't that mean that we wouldn't exist? Why were we still there and able to see anything? And, then why was it that some of us changed, like Zane, and then some of us didn't? If Garmadon was taken out like that, then wouldn't that mean that I wasn't born? Or, was it saying that we were still born but, we didn't get affected? But, Zane, was? I don't know. This was just, incredibly weird. I'm not even sure how to think about it! It's so weird I don't know how else to put it! I wasn't in the past so, I don't know how time worked!

And then… the Time Vortex opened up again, and Kai and Nya came flying out of it with the reversal blade just as we were wondering what was going on. This entire 'final battle' was just over five minutes for me. I was outside of that thing for five minutes, watched Ninjago being messed up in time for a minute of it, and then it was all over.

I… don't have anything to say about it, so I want to talk more about what happened after instead. Kai and Nya managed to get the Time Twins to retreat back into the vortex, and when they did they healed Wu with the reversal blade. While they were traveling in time, Wu realized that the Time Twins were too dangerous to be left to their own devices. Because of this, Wu took the reversal blade and ripped it out of the Iron Doom and shoved Kai and Nya out right as they passed by our time. This meant that Wu was left hurtling through the Time Vortex, unable to control where he went, and locked in a battle with the Time Twins.

I never saw the Time Twins again. I wonder what would happen if they did manage to actually return. But what was more important was the fact that Wu was missing. He was lost to time, and we were down a Master.

When I think back on this whole this, this whole really weird set of events, the only thing that really sticks with me is that this was how we lost Master Wu. I didn't get to know Krux and Acronix enough to think of them like I did Chen. They didn't do anything to me specifically to hurt me like Harumi or Morro. They didn't even have some plan or connection to me that made me feel guilty like my dad and the Overlord. The Time Twins, were Wu's enemy. They sort of became Kai and Nya's enemy too. But they weren't _my_ enemy.

There were a lot of things that I did wrong with this entire bit of events. This was the first and only time I tried to assert me becoming a Master on my team. I made them think of me as childish and unprepared for everything. We let our victories just slip through our hands. But, when it comes down to it, none of the mistakes I made in this time were what actually impacted the end of this fight. Kai and Nya did this on their own. It was their victory, not mine. And, while I'm glad for them, it means that this is probably my most… forgettable fight that I've been apart of.

Kai healed his dad with the reversal blade, and they went to make sure it was placed back in the Boiling Sea where it wouldn't be used again. With Wu gone, it didn't feel like a victory. We'd stopped the Twins, but we'd lost something. I knew that I had to do something quick, or else we'd be hurt. I knew what it was like to lose someone important to me, we all did. And if we didn't have something to work for, we'd break.

So I made it our goal to find Wu. For the next year, all of our focus would be on trying to track down Wu. We would split up and search all of Ninjago, waiting each day to see if he would emerge from time. Given the way that time works, it was almost a nothing chance that we would find him. But we had shown ourselves to be weak during this adventure. We'd gotten lazy and let the Twins work behind our backs. We hadn't stopped Acornix at the beginning, and we'd failed to keep ahold of what we won. While we looked for Wu, it would be our job to also train ourselves to be the best ninja we could be when we found him.

We'd defeated the Hands of Time, but lost something to time for it. Now, we were about to enter into something that none of us were expecting. Almost exactly one year after Wu was lost, I was about to discover a group that was going to change everything about me. I was about to meet the Sons of Garmadon.

* * *

"Alright," Lloyd shook his head, "It's done, I'm done. This is done. I'm done talking about the Hands of Time."

Zane smiled warmly as he finished the last log and added it to the database. He had indeed just finished doing the remainder of the transcription of Lloyd's chapters up through Morro's defeat. With the time it would take for Lloyd to begin work on the next set of chapters, he would be caught up just as Lloyd started the next batch.

"I did not sense that you had as much issue with these chapters as you did with those concerning Morro," Zane informed Lloyd, "Is there a reason that talking about the Time Twins was such a difficult task?"

"It… it just felt weird," Lloyd sighed, "Everything about it feels off. Like, I had to seriously remember what happened with everything. And just, the fact I wasn't even there when the Twins were defeated was… it just doesn't feel right. We've always all been apart of it before!"

"Perhaps your issue here is that you felt a level of disengagement about this particular story, due to the events that transpired being difficult for you to reconcile?" Zane offered, "Unlike Morro, you don't have as much emotional attachment, but that lack of attachment has put pressure on you to find ways to make your story more robust."

"I think that's it," Lloyd sighed, "I just, I felt just wanted to get through this particular one, but I still found areas to just, drone on about. I still meant to save that stuff about Pixal for later. But, I'll just kinda have to remember that."

"I will make a note of it for you," Zane paused, "Lloyd, might I ask if you are going to be alright with talking about recent events?"

"Hrmm?" Lloyd sat up, "You mean, about Harumi?"

"Yes," Zane nodded, "I understand that your current feelings on Harumi are far less developed than those about your previous encounters. I do not doubt that you will write quality, but I do worry if you are emotionally prepared for doing so."

"I'm, I'll be fine, Zane," Lloyd assured him, "I need to talk about her. She's… she changed so much about all of this. I've mentioned her over and over through this and, I need to make sure that she's down there. I need to talk about her."

"I see," Zane didn't sound convinced, "Lloyd, I would like to remind you that if you struggle, then you are free to talk to us. We all know the hardships that you went through with her manipulations. She did things to you that would leave scars for those that were not prepared. She reopened old wounds. If you find yourself unable to talk… do not force yourself."

"I won't," Lloyd sighed, "I understand. I need to talk about her, and I'm going to do it."

"Then I will ask who it is that you wish me to inform about the time of these sessions," Zane asked.

"I had to do it with him at some point," Lloyd stood up, "I'm sitting down with Jay next, and then Nya after that. And then I'm going to finish it off with that stuff with the Oni with all of you, alright?"

"I will inform Jay at once," Zane agreed, "Are you certain you will end our book there?"

"Yeah," Lloyd smiled awkwardly, "It isn't worth writing an autobiography about things that haven't happened yet. I'm ready to get down for the home stretch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, the S7 chapters are finished! While I love writing the Time Twins for Enter the Ninjaverse, Hands of Time was a very oddly paced season. I barely remembered anything other than the finale at first, and now I see why. So, as Lloyd's dialogue implies, I am ending this fic at Season 10. When I first began writing this, the show had just finished Season 9 (one of my favorite seasons). I had always planned for this fic to go through that, and with how Season 10 created a bow for the trilogy, more or less, I decided that I would end it there.
> 
> Once more, though, Autobiography of a Legend will be going on hiatus. Like the Season 5 chapters, I've been trying to think of how to approach the season. While not confusing, there are several things that I am figuring out how I want to really tackle. Because of that, I currently don't have enough written to continue posting regularly. Once I have completed the Season 8 chapters, I'll begin posting once more. I will again recommend Enter the Ninjaverse and The Furthest Realm to anyone that wants to have more content! Thank you all for reading, and Ninja-GO!


	36. An Unwelcome Introduction

More than anything so far, I don't want to write all these chapters.

Everything until now, even the stuff with the Time Twins, has felt like it happened so long ago I know how I feel about them. Which, doesn't even make sense, since it all happened kinda close together. So much of what happens to me all goes down right around the same time. From the minute that I defeated the Overlord up until the day the Time Twins went back in time, it felt like I never got a break from fighting. And then, when Wu was gone, I got a chance to catch my breath. Maybe that's why I know what I think about all of that.

But there's one reason that I don't want to talk about what happened to me lately. I know I have to, since everyone saw what happened to me. Everyone saw what I did when my father came back. You all watched me have the hope inside me beaten down into the dirt. But more than that, I made myself the symbol for helping save Ninjago from him. If I didn't talk about this, I would be cutting out a lot of important stuff. But when I think about it, I don't want to talk about it. And the reason why is because of one person. Her.

Harumi.

Just saying her name hurts. Just thinking about her makes me angry. I haven't hated anyone before. Not like she made me hate her. I don't mean that she did something to make me hate her. I mean that she did everything she could to make me despise her. Everything that happened to Ninajgo, everything that happened to me, it was all because of her. Harumi made sure that no matter what happened, I was hurting in some way. Even when I tried to get away from her, she tried to take my place with my father. I know that, more than Morro, more than Chen, more than the Overlord and Pythor, I hate Harumi more than anything.

And at the same time… I regret what I did to her.

I don't have any issue talking about Harumi. I don't have to think about what I want to say. I don't have to plan this out, or try to write this all down again. I don't even have to really do anything. I just have to start. And it isn't hard to start. And that's the problem.

Everything that Harumi did, was because of me. I can't come up with some reason to say that I wasn't the cause. The entire reason that Harumi did what she did was because… was because of me. If I never let the Serpentine out… if I hadn't been a stupid kid and tried to act like my dad, then her family wouldn't have died. She wouldn't have gone to worship my father. She wouldn't have made all of Ninjago suffer just to make me feel her pain. If I didn't hurt her, then she wouldn't have taken it out on Ninjago.

The others have tried to tell me that it wasn't my fault. They tried to say that she was acting on her own, and I can't be responsible for her actions. I can't let her try to get to me like that. I've tried for a long time to believe that. I've tried so hard to tell myself that what she did wasn't my fault. That the Colossus, the city, my father, all of it wasn't my fault. And I've tried, so long to tell myself that. And I just can't. I can't believe it.

Maybe it's because she tried so long to get in my head. Maybe she just wanted to make me suffer like this. She wasn't content at just bringing my father back. She made sure that I had to watch my friends die. She made sure I watched as they got crushed, right in front of me. She made sure I got to watch the city I'd spent so long protecting get turned into the seat of the Emperor. She did everything to make sure that I knew it was my fault that I had let Ninjago become… that.

Morro had something personal with Wu, and he used me as a vessel to do it. But the thing was, Morro didn't hate me, he hated that I was the Green Ninja. He didn't care who I was, not really. If Kai had been the Green Ninja, he'd have been just as horrible for him as he was to me. At least, that's what I've come to think about. Morro didn't really start to get at me as _Lloyd_ until later on, when he needed me to comply more for his plans. Morro hated the Green Ninja, and I thought the Green Ninja was me.

Harumi wasn't like that. She didn't care if I was the Green Ninja. All she cared about, was that she hated _me_.

I've never met someone that's hated you for your very existence like that before. Someone that takes everything you've done in life and uses it to rip you apart. Someone that you can't reason with, because they just hate you. They just hate you because you're you. That was what Harumi was to me. Harumi hated me for being Lloyd. Morro hated me for being the Green Ninja. I want to make that clear here, since I spent so long talking about how Morro and I fought with each other. I don't want to act like what Morro did to me wasn't horrible. But Harumi did something that was unforgivable.

I'm the Green Ninja. I'm supposed to forgive and forget. I'm supposed to beat the bad guys and forgive the people that were dragged into it. I'm supposed to be willing to help anyone that needs someone to reach out and pick them up. That's, what it means to be a hero. That's what it means to be the big hero of Ninjago. I'm supposed to be perfect here. And here I am, saying that I hate someone so much I can't forgive what she did to me.

Am I supposed to? Am I meant to forgive someone like her? She hurt me in ways that I didn't even think were possible. It wasn't like she just wanted me to get upset, she ripped the very thing that I clung to for so long away from me: my father. She ripped him out of the Departed Realm to turn him into a monster to kill me. She took away the city that I worked so hard to protect. She isolated me and tried to make me feel as alone as I could. She killed my friends in front of me. I can't get that out of my head. Whenever I think about her, that's what comes to mind. And part of me says that's fine. It's okay to hate her. It's okay to not forgive her. It's okay to forever see Harumi as just a horrible person that… got what she deserved.

...But I can't think that. Not for long. Because then I remember why she was like that. I remember that it was all my fault. Harumi was making herself the arbiter of punishment for the sins I committed when I was a kid. It wasn't like I didn't know unleashing the Serpentine would start a big conflict. I didn't know that it would lead to Pythor and the Devourer, but I was at least aware that it was going to do something horrible. And I still did it. I still made the choice to do it. No matter what the others say, I know that she, had a right to at least hate me like she did.

I could probably go on for a long time about this, but that's enough for right now. I wanted to say all of that, before we started. I wanted to make clear how I felt about Harumi. Everything that happened to the city, and her are so close together that I can't talk about it without talking about her. And I think the only way for me to really talk about what happened, is to start at what happened after the Time Twins escaped into the past. Probably not a good transition, but it all starts there.

When Kai and Nya came back, we all made our vow to find Wu, wherever he was. Ray explained to us that Wu was lost in the Time Vortex, meaning he could appear anywhere at any time. Since Nya and Kai had cured him of the Time Punch before Wu engaged the Twins, we didn't have to worry about Wu being hurt. But we had no way of knowing when, where or even how Wu would appear. We didn't even know if he _would_ appear again.

Because of this, I made a difficult call. Normally, whenever our team split up in the past, it spelled bad things. I didn't want to split us up, but I knew that we had to. I sat the Ninja down when we got back to Yang's Temple and told them we needed to do something. We'd made too many mistakes with the Time Twins. We hadn't worked together as a team like we should have, we made dumb mistakes that let the Twins advance their plan, and our 'victory' had come at the cost of Wu. I had to do something to make us all understand what we had to do next.

So, I told them we should go our separate ways. We would split up and go out into Ninjago to train on our own. I wasn't disbanding the team, but we needed to get stronger. As a team, we could only grow so much. I know some people say 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,' but those parts are still important. If we split up, we could search for Wu, wherever he could appear. I thought that I'd have to fight the ninja on that, since every other time we'd done that it always ended badly.

The thing was, none of them did. I could tell they all felt just as bad about this as I did. None of them felt like they'd done everything they could to stop the Time Twins, myself included. So, they didn't fight me. Nya was concerned about what it could mean for us, and Jay was worried it would lead to us breaking up for real. Zane suggested that we would go our separate ways until one of us made a call to the others, where we could come back together and form the team again. That way, we weren't breaking up, but just putting the team on pause. It wasn't the perfect solution, but nobody could really protest. We had one last dinner together, and the next morning the others had left the temple.

From what I understand, Jay and Cole teamed up not long after they split up and decided to work together. They decided to search the more remote areas and train there while they did. Kai and Zane did something similar, but with other parts of Ninjago. Nya learned about corruption going on in some of the villages in the deeper parts of Ninjago and decided to go undercover to figure out what was going on. She must have done it really well, since I lost track of her almost instantly. I kept tabs on the others for awhile, but eventually Cole and Jay stopped showing up and other than Kai making sure to message his followers, we all took the whole 'splitting up' thing seriously. We all made ourselves go our separate ways.

I wanted to go out and search Ninjago like the others. At first, I tried to do that. I went off to Jamanikai Village and tried looking around there, only to find out that Zane had already been there. It wasn't long before I realized the guys were taking their job of covering ground really seriously on top of splitting up. I started finding myself sticking around Ninjago City more and more. And, eventually I ended up just staying in Ninjago City permanently.

Now, there are a few things that I want to point out during this time. I used Yang's Temple as my house for a long time. I tried to train there and such, but without the others there, it didn't feel like a home. I couldn't get comfortable in such a huge place like that. So, of all places, I ended up going to the small apartment that we lived in back when I was still training at Dareth's Dojo. I could have afforded something much bigger, but I felt at home there. I knew it really well, and it let me live right in the middle of the city. It was a good place, aside from the leaking walls.

Yang's Temple… that's something that I guess I should mention now, since this is really the only time I can really fit it in. We forgot about it. I don't mean that we didn't go back there, I just mean that we forgot about it for a long time. Since I wasn't there, nobody was living there. It's probably floating somewhere, in Ninjago. Cole said he went to Yang at some point and told him that we weren't coming back… which, I still doubt Yang ever was in that temple, since I never saw him after Cole jumped through the rift. There's… a lot of things that we all just kinda, forgot about over the year we were apart training and searching for Wu.

You know how sometimes you forgot something important, even if the time to use it is starring you right in the face? During the entire time I was working to protect Ninjago City, I stopped using Airjitzu and my Elemental Dragon. I… guess I just didn't have any need for it. And, well, as time has gone on I kinda just, stopped even thinking about using them. Cole said something about how Airjitzu used some 'evil magic' and such, and that he went on this whole journey to close the scar on his forehead and, uh, I dunno. I don't know anything about that. I just know that I stopped using them for so long, I stopped really feeling the need to use them. During everything that happened, it never really occurred to me to even try to use them.

Looking back on it, though, it's not the worst thing I could have done. Not using Airjitzu actually meant that I trained my elemental powers more than ever. I started learning how to use it in more interesting ways. I tried to perfect Kai's thing of using your power to kinda hover in the air, and I almost learned it. As for the elemental dragons… over time, they stopped being useful. Nya said she stopped using it because she wanted to get stronger without relying on powers like that. I can understand that. Maybe I was doing that too. The last time I used my dragon, I almost died. And as useful as Airjitzu is, we can usually find ways to get around it. So I guess when I get down to it, it wasn't that important for me to actually use it. But it was still, kinda odd we forgot to use them and, well nowadays we just don't bother with them.

One thing that was weird during this time was Pixal suddenly came back online. She told us she was sorry for going dark for so long, and that whatever Nya had done to Zane in the Samurai X Cave had forced her out. She uploaded herself into our network and started communicating with me. She promised to help me find Wu, and was my main source of information on leads for Wu. Like I said before, Zane was always way closer to her than I was, so for me it was just a matter of surprise and just accepting what happened. I don't know why I didn't put two and two together with the whole Samurai X thing, but it wasn't that important in the end.

So, I spent a year training, watching over the city and looking for Wu. I spent a lot more time looking for Wu than training, though. While I was watching over the city, I was also going out and investigating rumors all around. Since we didn't know what would happen to Wu, we had to investigate anything related to him. And we looked for a long time. Like… a really, really long time. And no matter where we looked, where I looked, I didn't find anything. I never found anything about Wu, at all.

For that year, what kept me moving forward was finding Wu. I had to keep looking. I'd let Master Wu down with the Time Twins, and I had to help bring him back. I grew stronger so I could show him that I was getting stronger when I found him. I didn't want Wu to come back to see us all fallen apart and broken, like we were after what happened with the Golden Master. I wanted us to be stronger than ever. And, in a way, I guess we kinda did.

All of this started when I was still in the city. The police received a tip that someone was looking to steal something from Borg Tower on the night of last year's festival. Borg must have seen them in his security cameras around the area. I waited with Borg at the top floor that night, watching the security system. The guys that came to steal from Borg were skilled to make it all the way to the hidden spot and even fool the trip system. It wasn't until one of them set it off retrieving the mask I found out about them.

It was my first real battle in a long time. They were all wearing outfits to blend into the festival crowd, meaning I had to stop them before they got back. I took them on, seeing one of them had stolen what looked like some sort of mask. I defeated four of them, but two of them managed to plant a zipline to get away. I went after them, but the one that made it over first betrayed his friend and cut the line. I caught him and delivered him to the police, just in time to have Pixal catch me in my new car we'd developed to chase after the other one.

Long story short, he managed to get away, but not before I saw him parachute down into the canals towards the bottom of the city. It was seeing that parachute that started all of this. It was a painting of my father, but not Sensei Garmadon. It looked more like Lord Garmadon, back before the Dark Island. I'd never heard of the Sons of Garmadon before, but I knew when I saw it that I couldn't deal with this alone. Something was going on, and I didn't like it. That was when I called the team back together so we could investigate it.

During this time, the royal Family reached out to us through their Master of Arms, Hutchins. I don't really know what to say about them. To be honest, it's almost like they just, appeared from nowhere one day. I didn't even know that they existed for the longest time. Apparently, they were incredibly isolationist and didn't do anything for Ninjago. I'm not even sure why they're royalty, or where they were during everything that happened. Given how many times Ninjago City has been attacked, I would have expected to meet them or hear about them at least once. I didn't get to know any of them well enough in the short time we met. It wasn't the Emperor that was important, after all.

We all met together at Borg Tower for the first time in months. It was great seeing them all again. Apparently, at some point during the year I was gone, my voice deepened, which Nya felt inclined to point out. I never noticed it. Apparently it's common not to hear what you actually sound like. While none of us had made any headway on finding Wu yet, I could tell they had all gotten stronger. We'd all grown in our time apart, and they even looked a little different. I grew my hair out a little bit, and apparently I now had green eyes. I'm not sure how I didn't see that at first. But everyone had changed a little, and all for the better.

Hutchins arrived, explaining to us that the mask that had been stolen was the Oni Mask of Vengeance. Everyone knows what the Oni are now, but at the time we only knew they were some sort of ancient race that predated Ninjago. The masks were styled after their greatest Warlords, and if all three were brought together, they would unleash some great power. Not that much different from anything else we've had to deal with, to be honest. I guess Borg just likes collecting rare artifacts and just never told anyone he had it. Hutchins asked us to protect the Royal Family at their upcoming speech, explaining that

The Royal Family's last speech was the first time that I ever met Harumi. I remember the first time I saw her. I don't know why, but I thought she was one of the prettiest girls I'd ever seen. Looking back on that, I feel like an idiot. I stared at her for so long at that speech that the others took notice. I don't know why I thought she was so pretty back then. She looked so elegant and graceful standing there, like some sort of sculpture. I'd never seen someone like that before. You would never have guessed she was as twisted and evil as she was later on. Back then… she was just a Princess.

Thinking back on this, I realize that Harumi likely set up the false alarm of an attack on the Royal Family at their speech so I would dive in and protect them. I mean, that was the reason that we were let inside the palace. Harumi wanted us there so she could make us trust her. It may have been a false alarm, but I'm sure we were playing right into her hand. Everything was her plan, right from the start. I don't remember even thinking about it, I simply dived in and acted. Maybe if I hadn't, I wouldn't have had to go through all of this.

That night we were brought in to meet the Emperor, but I don't remember much about that meeting outside of Harumi. The first time she spoke to us, she sounded so kind. She took her time to complement each of us, saying she was fascinated by our 'heroics' that would 'go down in legend.' She was just trying to get to us. She got Nya to like her by saying she wanted to be like her, and acted like she was giving titles to the others. And then, when she got to me… she decided to bring up the fact that she didn't have parents, and was actually adopted by the family. Just to make me feel connected to her. She was just trying to lower my guard. Everything was just apart of her plan.

Hutchins told us there was still a threat to the Royal Family. It was Harumi's own threat. She was the one leading the Sons of Garmadon, and she probably ordered them to steal the mask just to panic the Emperor into making a speech to give us a chance to get closer to her. She wanted to keep us close so she could manipulate us, to keep us in the palm of her hand. I don't know how I was so stupid to actually trust her. But I did. And I paid for it.

We learned that the second Oni Mask was stored inside the palace, the Oni Mask of Deception. We were tasked with guarding both it, and the Royal Family. I accepted, and told Hutchins that we would. I was so stupid.

Harumi had set her plan into motion. I'd just been given my unwelcomed introduction to the leader of the Sons of Garmadon, and everything that was about to happen next.

* * *

"...Hey, Lloyd?" Jay leaned back in the chair he was seated in, "Are uh, you okay?"

"What?" Lloyd blinked, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. You're not the first one to ask."

Jay didn't look as convinced as he wanted to. Lloyd wasn't sure why Jay was asking that. He hadn't gotten mad like he had before, or broken out into tears, or even let his power out like he had by accident before. He'd just sat there recording his chapter, like normal.

"I see…." Jay rubbed his hands together, "You just, sounded so angry. I've never heard you talk like that before, Lloyd."

"It's Harumi," Lloyd stated bluntly, "I'm not going to hold back. She made me suffer. It's my autobiography."

"I wasn't saying anything," Jay pointed out.

"Good," Lloyd stood up, "Then I think we're done for now. We can record another chapter tomorrow."

"Uh…. yeah, sure thing…" Jay bit his lip, "Lloyd are uh, you sure you're good? The others didn't say you were this, angry before."

"I'll try to dial it back a bit, but I'm not going to hold back a lot," Lloyd sighed, "I need to write this all down. Everyone deserves to know what Harumi did to me, what she did to Ninjago just to hurt _me_. Everyone already knows that Harumi was the one that revived my dad. They have to know about it."

"I guess you're right, but-" Jay started, but Lloyd cut him off.

"I'm cooking dinner tonight with Kai," Lloyd gave a small smile, "Sorry, but I gotta help him out. Can we talk more at dinner?"

Jay didn't exactly look happy with that response, but he gave a small nod of his head. Lloyd gave a smile and slid out the door to the room, making his way towards the kitchen. Jay remained quiet for a few more minutes, then stood up and put his hands in his pockets.

"You don't sound okay…" Jay muttered to himself as he left the room, "You didn't tell me your chapters were gonna sound like this…"

Regardless of his feelings, Lloyd had asked Jay to do this. It was just the first chapter, after all, so there was still time for things to change. For now, Jay put his apprehension aside and left the room, closing out the first chapter in the most recent of their adventures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings Autobiography of a Legend readers! After almost 2 months of hiatus, I have returned, and I bring with it good news. As of yesterday, I have completed the entire fic. As I mentioned before, AoAL was always planned to end at Season 10. With the pro and epilogue factored in, the fic is 48 chapters long. No more hiatuses and no more waiting! It'll be a consistent weekly update schedule until we hit the end of the fic! Writing these were perhaps the hardest part of the entire fic, but I think they came out to what I wanted them to be! It's time to finish the legend.
> 
> Thank you for reading once again! I wanted to quickly mention that I have a Tumblr now called BionicStars, where you can follow me for updates on my other fic, Enter the Ninjaverse! I've set it up so you can also ask questions as well! I hope that you all stick around, and thank you again for reading this far!
> 
> NINJA-GO!


	37. The Jade Liar

I hate how, looking back, it was obvious Harumi's plan was getting me to trust her from the start.

The first night I was in the palace, I heard something in Harumi's room break. When I got there, the room looked like it'd been ransacked, and she'd been dragged out the window by force. And of course there was someone running around the roofs of the palace, carrying a Harumi-sized bag. Just like any ninja would, I went after them. I chased them all the way outside the palace before I made a wrong move trying to jump down to grab them. That was when the intruder grabbed my hand and caught me before I fell.

The 'intruder' was Harumi, who claimed to be disguising herself to give food to the 'less fortunate.' She formed a perfect lie to make me drop all my suspicions. Ransacked room? She was naturally messy. Sneaking out in disguise? Her family wouldn't approve of her doing it. Wanting to help people? The palace had so much food that other people could eat. It was a perfect way to make me agree to help her, even when I knew we should have gone back to the palace right away. The perfect time to talk me into feeling sorry for her.

I hate the fact I even fell for all of that. She got me to think about how we both had 'roles to play' and sometimes it was hard to live up for them. I think by now, I've made clear that being the Green Ninja has meant a lot more than just saving Ninjago. So making me think about her being a Princess the same way was a smart move on her part. How much research did she do on me, just to plan all that out? Did she think about everything to say? How to act? She was perfect at acting like a Princess. She even talked about how she was wearing a mask.

And of course, I fell for it. I already thought she was pretty, and it was the first time I'd really had that happen to me. I mean, I'd obviously thought some girls were pretty before, but never like her. And I think she figured it out right away, since she made herself the perfect girl for me to fall for. Everything she said was just perfect to make me want to protect her. And of course, wanting to protect someone means you care about them. Care she could manipulate. I was such an idiot.

After we handed out the food, we wandered around the canals of the city. Since I was usually always in the downtown area of Ninjago whenever there was some major villain, I hadn't really spent that much time in the 'slums' of the city until I made it a point to start staying around in the city. There were lots of rumors of old men wandering in and out of the canals. We made our way around, and she kept talking. Kept talking and kept making me think that she was just such a nice girl. Such a nice person. And even let me wander into a group of thugs from the SOG harassing some kids.

So, if some of you didn't know, Harumi was the leader of the SOG. She put them all together and was the 'Quiet One' leading them from the shadows. So I bet she even guided me around to a spot where I'd see something like this happening. She wanted to drop in my head that there was a leader of the SOG, someone that I had to worry about. It's a classic move to make someone not suspect you, since obviously if they're telling you about them, you wouldn't think it's them. She wanted to be the one controlling what I thought. I think, at least.

Thankfully for her, Samurai X showed up before I could go and teach the thugs some lessons. I'd heard of Samurai X wandering around Ninjago City, but they did a good job of staying out of my way. I'm pretty sure Pixal didn't want me to get too close and start asking some questions. And then, just after we saw Samurai X drive away, Hutchins came back to fetch Harumi.

Okay… now this is something that I actually do feel bad about. I thought Hutchins was a bad guy. He found us without me even detecting him, he more or less dragged Harumi back to the palace, and spoke about me calling her by her name like it was bad for me to call her anything other than 'Princess.' For the record, she asked me to call her by a nickname to make me trust her, one I refuse to say. Hutchins sounded angry at me when he heard me use it.

I realize now that Hutchins was just a bit of an intense guy that wanted to protect the Royal Family. And given what happened to him, I really feel bad for suspecting him. Or at least writing him off. He didn't deserve me thinking badly of him like that. If anything, I feel bad knowing that Harumi was using him and was already planning to kill him. She was planning all of this from the start, so knowing that he was always going to be a victim makes me wonder if I could have done something to save him.

I don't want to talk about when the others found out I'd gone out with Harumi that night. I guess Hutchins told them, or some other guard. I was an idiot for even thinking she was pretty or that she was a good person, simple as that. Let's move on.

The next time I saw Harumi was right before the palace was attacked. I stumbled in on her 'parents' lecturing her about going out and tarnishing the family name by doing it. I don't want to say anything bad about the Emperor, since I really never knew him or his family. So instead I'll just say that he made Harumi upset, and she stormed off to her room. I wonder if she planned that too, since she passed by me and looked at me like she was upset over me. And right after, Hutchins came by and told me to 'stay away from Harumi.'

I should have listened to you, Hutchins.

Just after that, Cole called us to say that he saw Hutchins going into the lower levels lined with explosives. That was all the proof I needed to think Hutchins was on the side of the SOG, who immediately showed up the second the palace went up in flames. I was still around the throne room, so I first tried to go after the Emperor. I couldn't find him, so instead I tried to go intercept the ones that were attacking. Most of what happened here I remember because I know now Harumi planned all this.

I wasn't paying attention to the palace. Zane got Harumi out, and I saw Ultraviolet -you all likely know her from that show she hosted during the takeover- riding her motorcycle through the palace. (Yes, she is that crazy.) I managed to knock her down, and that was when Hutchins showed up. Of course, my first thought was that he was behind this, so I tried to interrogate him right there. He must have thought I was crazy, thinking someone that served the Royal Family would try to kill them. Someone was, but not him. The only reason I stopped was because he threw me down before Ultraviolet's sai nearly cut my head off. Zane arrived with Harumi to freeze her long enough to give me Harumi to look after.

One of the other generals of the SOG, Mr. E -the one that had robbed Borg's treasure room and gotten away- entered the palace and tried to take the Oni mask. I don't know exactly what happened, but somehow Kai burned the mask that was on display. That was when Hutchins told us that he'd been going to secure the real Oni Mask of Deception, and gave it to me and Harumi He even showed us a secret passage out of the throne room, and said he'd go and secure the Emperor. Harumi looked horrified hearing that. That was the last time I ever saw Hutchins. I'm just glad the last thing I told him was that I was wrong about him.

Okay, so, for someone that's never ridden a real motorcycle before, the fact I managed to steal one from an SOG and then get both me and Harumi out of the palace on it while avoiding Ultraviolet means I have at least some skill in riding one. I even managed to outwit most of the SOG that came after us, and I'm pretty sure the only reason that Ultraviolet managed to find us when I slipped away was because she's just crazy enough to do the insane thing like look behind her all the time. I don't remember a lot about that particular ride, except for how it ended.

Harumi was the one holding the Oni Mask of Deception, and dropped it. I assumed she was just scared out of her mind since I was driving her all the way up and down a highway with a biker gang chasing us. I think she just saw the chance to give it to her allies. Ultraviolet knew Harumi was the Quiet One from the start, and I bet she was laughing at me the whole time for trusting her. I even challenged Ultraviolet for the mask.

I realized I couldn't out-bike Ultraviolet, so I took Harumi to the docks. Now, during the attack on our temple by the Twins, the Destiny's Bounty had been wrecked, again. I called in some favors (and some savings) to get it rebuilt. I don't know where the design I chose came from. Maybe I saw it in a movie? I think I'd have remembered it if I did, though. Anyways, after I had it rebuilt, I hid it in the docks so nobody would find it. For some reason, the Bounty attracts people that want to crash it whenever it flies. With Ultraviolet on our tail, though, I knew we had no choice.

Did Harumi anticipate me actually getting her all the way to the Bounty? If I hadn't, she probably would have made some deal with Ultraviolet for the mask and let us get away that way. But since I managed to get her there, I guess she just rolled with it. She didn't have any reason to act upset, since I was technically saving her life. And at the time, Ultraviolet never gave me any sign she wasn't just a crazy chick on a motorcycle trying to throw me off the highway. So yeah. Well, either way, I got us on the Bounty and went to go and pick up the others. Once I did, that was when they told us that the Emperor, Empress and Hutchins had all perished in the attack.

...I don't understand how Harumi could have done that. She clearly wanted them dead. I even brought it up to her later, and she acted like they deserved to die. Since she hadn't asked to be adopted by them, she could've chosen to leave them. Even if leaving them meant killing them. I don't understand how she did that. How she could stand there and cry for us, fall on her knees and look like she was actually torn up hearing the news. What sort of person can murder their own family and then cry fake tears for them?

And I know I've met people like that before, that's not my point. Chen could take care of people, but he wasn't right to begin with. The Overlord was pure evil, and Pythor was a backstabber from the start. I knew from the time Morro spent in my head that even if he was evil, he had at least enough inside him to feel regret over Wu in his last moments. But I never got any feeling from Harumi that she regretted what she did. Harumi didn't feel like a villain. She wasn't crazy, or a ghost, or made it clear she was evil from the start. She seemed like a normal person. Yet she just coldly killed the entire Royal Family, and acted like it was going to happen with or without her.

It makes me sick to think about it. I can't help but feel sick whenever I think about what she did. She killed them. She set fire to the palace, and said it was just to expose the temple she needed to resurrect my father like it was no big deal. How am I supposed to forgive someone like that? How am I supposed to look past that? She didn't regret her actions. And as the Green Ninja, I feel like I'm supposed to forgive her. And I can't. I just can't.

But of course, at the time I felt sorry for her, and swore that we'd protect her from the SOG. We thought they were just a biker gang at first, but now we knew they meant business. I had us take the Bounty out somewhere remote to protect her. It wouldn't have mattered, since she was communicating with them the entire time to make sure we couldn't really get away from them. But at the time, I was determined to protect her. I didn't know I was protecting a murderer. I don't know if I would have, if I knew at the time. But then again, I also thought she was a good person.

The guy that I turned into the police during the heist at Borg Tower turned out to be a guy named Luke Cunningham, and I wanted information from him. So we left Harumi with Nya while we went to the city to try to get him to talk. One way, though, I had us stop by Mystake's tea shop. I always thought it was out somewhere more remote in the past, but I guess it was just always in Ninjago City. Wu introduced me to her before the Time Twins came by, so I was familiar with her. I don't know how long it'd been since I saw her, but I also swore she changed her voice at some point. Given that she was an Oni in disguise, I can guess she likely was used to hiding and changing herself to blend in.

The reason I bring this up, other than Mystake being important later, is that she was the one that told us about the Oni. Jay and I stayed to hear her tale about them, while Cole and Zane went to go and interrogate Luke. They didn't do much. I'm going to talk more about Mystake later, so let's just talk about what she told me now.

Since everyone knows the Oni and Dragons are real now, I'll summarize. The First Spinjitzu Master was born of half Oni and half Dragon, then fled the First Realm when they tried to take him for their never ending war. That meant that I was part Oni and Dragon. I think that would mean I'm 1/8th Oni and 1/8th Dragon? I think that's right. I don't actually have any of their abilities, since they're not really that big a part of me. But I have enough to be able to resist the Oni's magic. Learning that the First Spinjitzu Master wasn't even from this world, though, was something else.

This, however, was when I also learned why the SOG were after the masks. The Oni Masks, when united, had the power to resurrect my father. But Mystake told us that he wouldn't be the man that I recognized. Yeah… she was right. And of course, by now the SOG had already taken two of the masks, so we were really behind on this one. I'd tried to have Pixal find the third mask when we first fled the city, but she found nothing. You all obviously know that we found it.

The only thing that Zane and Cole managed to get from Luke was that the SOG was using a dive bar for their unofficial hangout. This turned out to be Dareth's bar. You know, good for Dareth for getting a bar. I don't know if he still has the Dojo, but I'm sure he does. I have to admit, I didn't ever think of him owning a bar before, but it made sense when I thought about it. He's a really good people person, so running a place like that was totally up his alley. It kinda makes me angry knowing the SOG took it over. If I knew that from the start, I would've found out more about the SOG right then and there. Nobody messes with Dareth. Ever.

The main thing that's important here is that Zane disguised himself as a prospective recruit and snuck in with Cole. And by snuck in, I mean getting captured. Honestly, I wish that at this point us getting captured was something more noteworthy. They were attempting at first to just get information, but after a fight broke out we ended up getting involved to try to chase down Mr. E. Cole was caught in all the commotion, and Zane, in disguise, was helping the others escape.

So, I know to most of you, the Oni Masks were nothing more than just tools that were being used to resurrect my father. And, well, they aren't exactly much more than that. But they each had their powers. The Mask of the Deception, the one we were fighting for at the palace, can let you use telekinesis. The Mask of Vengeance, the red one stolen by Mr. E at the start of all of it, was a lot more powerful. The mask let Mr. E grow two more arms and become a really strong swordsman. Having four arms isn't really something that I find all that impressive, but knowing now what I do about the Oni, and more importantly about how powerful they were, the fact that a mask that was just a tool to be used by them was enough to take on four of us without flinching was pretty tough.

It was only by a lucky break that I managed to actually knock Mr. E down enough for him to lose control over the mask. We were planning on capturing him then and there. However, this was when Zane 'helped' Mr. E escape when we managed to corner him. I realized Zane was using this to go undercover in the SOG and figure out more about them. I ordered the others to stop going after him and let Zane go on his own. At the time, I thought it was a smart move, since there was no way that they'd figure that out. But, of course, Harumi knew when we discussed it around her and told her group. Because of course we did. And I was going to pay for that.

In the span of just a few days, I'd met Harumi, lost two of the Oni Masks, and found out there was a biker gang in the city trying to resurrect my father as Lord Garmadon. Harumi's family had been killed by her own hand, and we were on the run trying to protect her. Cole was captured, and Zane had gone dark. All of this was going right according to Haruim's plan.

We'd fallen right into Harumi's web of lies, and I'd put Zane at the center of it. The Jade Princess had become the Jade Liar.

* * *

"Do you think of those ending parts yourself?" Jay asked as Lloyd sighed and waved his hand for the recording device to stop.

"Huh?" Lloyd blinked, "You mean like, the last line?"

"Yeah, you're good at it," Jay nodded, "I mean, I've only heard you record two chapters but like, if I was reading this myself, I'd be hooked."

"Sometimes?" Lloyd admitted, "It's kinda up in the air. And I'm not really writing it. I decided to record it since it's easier to talk that way. And Zane's little thing here is just translating it all into a document I can edit later."

"Not a bad idea," Jay smirked, "Mind if I steal it? I wanna write my own book too! I'll call it, 'Fast as Lightning!' and make it-"

"Didn't you say you were thinking of a Starfarer story called that?" Lloyd pointed out.

"Huh?" Jay blinked, then frowned, "Hey! Fanfiction is a just as real as any other form of writing! Some of us don't have time to come up with all sorts of new stuff!"

"I wasn't accusing you, Jay," Lloyd chuckled, "For some reason I'd feel like a hypocrite for saying something bad about fanfiction."

The two shared a small chuckle together. This felt much better than last time they'd stopped. Last time, Jay had seemed like he was worried about Lloyd, especially with how he'd avoided talking to him all through dinner. This time, he seemed like he was back to normal. Lloyd took that as a good sign, and stood up to stretch a bit more.

"I gotta meet Cole for some weights," Lloyd grimaced, "I started working out with him after this stuff. And sometimes I go and spar with Zane. Oh, and I already said I cook with Kai too. You have any weird activity you wanna do with me?"

"We could play video games!" Jay smirked.

"We already do that all the time, Jay," Lloyd rolled his eyes, "But sure, maybe later. I gotta meet Cole."

"Alright, have fun with that!" Jay smirked, "Tell him I'm coming after him!"

Lloyd chuckled, recalling the last little tournament they had. Cole had been upping his gaming skills lately, after all. Lloyd left the room to go for another stressful yet rewarding time with Cole. As he left, though, Jay's smirk slowly fell as he looked down to the device that had now shut off from recording.

"I hope you're really okay with writing this, Lloyd," Jay sighed at the device, "Cause I don't know if you're okay with how it ends. You aren't talking about her like you are."

Jay finished the words he wasn't willing to say to Lloyd. With another small sigh, Jay stood up and left the room, making his way off into the Bounty for yet another night of wondering just what had gotten into Lloyd.


	38. The Worst Escape Ever

Of the things that I hate more and more as I go back through events like this, is knowing that this was all us being played by Harumi. She'd been planning this for so long that it made each loss we suffered feel even worse. The worst example of this was when Zane went after Mr. E in his attempt to get initiated into the Sons of Garmadon.

At the time, I was searching the city for the last known place that Zane had been. Our first hope had been to try to track where he was and maybe find out where their hideout was. Given that they were appearing from seemingly nowhere, and the only bar they frequented we'd now raided, we needed to know more about them. They'd been so low radar before that I hadn't even heard of them, and then overnight they'd attacked the Royal Palace and stolen two Oni Masks that were capable of resurrecting my father. This wasn't like any of the other foes we'd faced, who were always more open about their schemes. Even the Twins made themselves known to us pretty quickly, for better or worse. It felt like we'd been thrust right into this giant mess, and I was trying to figure out what was going on. Now that Zane had gone dark, it felt like we were losing even more control of the situation than we already had.

I think what made that moment worrying the most for me was knowing that Zane had done this on his own. We weren't told about his plan, which I get was so we made it more convincing. But we had no idea what was going on with him. I was running around Ninjago City doing everything I could to find where he'd gone. But nothing was working. I couldn't find out where it was, and so hearing suddenly that Zane had gone missing after getting revealed was even worse.

I know now that Harumi told them about Zane, likely after overhearing us discussing it on the Bounty. That's what I mean when I say I just get angrier looking back. We found Zane beaten up and knocked out in the desert. For someone to punch apart someone made of titanium, we knew that this was serious. Mr. E had caught up to him on his bike and done this. It's the only explanation that I have. Zane said his memory was fuzzy, but he remembered Mr. E being the last one that he was chasing down. It was also how we learned that the Oni Mask of Deception let you levitate objects with your mind, since Killow tried to use that to attack Zane during the race. Oh, in case it wasn't clear, it was a race to initiate him into the SOG, and it wasn't until they'd started Harumi went and told them so they could use the race as a cover to get rid of him.

This may sound random, but I want to talk a bit about the three generals of the SOG. This was the first time that they were really made aware to us as a threat. Mr. E was the one that beat up Zane, and the one that stole the Oni Mask of Vengeance from Borg Tower. From what Zane gathered, he was a nindroid. For some reason, I felt like that was more important than it ended up being. We never found out what he was. Was he someone like Cryptor? An old Nindroid from the Digilord's attack we never found out about? Or someone that I just, don't remember? I don't know. I feel like, he and Zane are really similar. Like, he's an echo of Zane or something?

Killow I have even less to say about. I barely even got a chance to fight him. He was always with the rest of the SOG, and I don't even remember much about him other than him just being a big and scary tough guy. His motorcycle had a saw for a front wheel. I remember that because he tore up any road he used it on. He was just kinda, there.

Ultraviolet is the one I remember the most. She was just crazy. I don't know what her deal was, or why she looked like that. I mean, I don't get why she and Killow had gray skin. I don't even know what her real name was. I mean, people talk rumors about her all the time, and she's clearly, not exactly sane. I get the feeling she wanted to bring my father back, simply because she wanted to see how crazy it would get. Given that the first thing she did when he did take over was start hunting down anyone in the city like it was some sort of game.

...See, that's the issue here. Whenever I think back to all of this, I really only remember Ultraviolet. I barely knew anything about the SOG then. I knew that they were a biker gang. And I think Harumi simply picked and formed them for her own ends. But other than Ultraviolet, I don't get why any of them even wanted to bring my father back. Like, again, I know for a fact that they did want it. They were by his side when it happened, and the thugs didn't exactly get scared and run away like the Serpentine did when the Great Devourer was unleashed. But, I just don't know much about them. They could've just been a regular group of thugs and I doubt it would have changed things. I mean, Chen had a theme around his cult, and it all made sense. I at least got why they all wanted to go with Chen. But, I don't get why the SOG wanted to really have him back like Harumi did. And, since this was the point that they really started posing a big threat to us, I have to say this now.

But I've gotten off track enough here. So, there I was, watching Zane in critical condition and half wrecked from Mr. E. It was the first time I had to take the SOG seriously as a threat to us as ninja. They were attacking the city, yes, but this was them actually hurting Zane. I made the call for us to go as far away from Ninjago City as we could to both protect Harumi and avoid getting attacked by the SOG. We had to find the third Oni Mask to prevent them from resurrecting my father. We had to go and stop them and protect Harumi.

During all of this, I found out that Cole had found a baby in the SOG headquarters. Zane had given him the chance to escape, and he'd met back up with us. We didn't know at the time who this baby really was. What we did know was that Cole had brought him with us knowing he couldn't leave him with SOG. I know dragging a baby along with us sounds bad, but we had no idea where he'd come from. If we left him back in the city, he could get captured by them again. We worked to protect him. I can now say that I have no idea how to handle a baby. And I'm not embarrassed to say that. I mention him now, since he would become very important later.

What was really important here was that Cole discovered that the baby had a map to the third Oni Mask wrapped around it. I'm not sure why they did that, but knowing what I do know about who the baby was, I can't say I'm shocked. I mean, he'd already held the key to us finding important artifacts without knowing before. What we figured out was that the mask was in Primevavl's Eye in a jungle in the center of Ninjago. Now that we knew, I had to keep us hidden. I couldn't let the SOG figure out where we were or that we knew about the mask (even if, with Harumi being in the room, it didn't matter in the end).

I made the call for us to enter a Dead Man's Squall in order to disappear. There's one moment that I remember, though. One moment that I really don't know why I remember, but I do. Before we entered, Harumi came to talk to me on the deck. After I explained where we were going, she asked me if I remembered my father before he left me. Specifically, from before I got out of Darkley's. We got to talking, and I remember that we were talking about how we both had families that weren't there for us growing up.

I remember that after we talked, I got to thinking. Did I want my father to be resurrected? I don't mean as he was. I mean as he was when he did: Sensei Garmadon. I kept a picture of us on the Bounty with me, taken before we left Chen's Island. Hearing how Harumi only remembered her parents in dreams, it made me start to wonder if I dreamed about that. Did I want to have my father back?

I've gone on and on before about how upset I am about how I only had my father for a short time. How I feel like I sometimes didn't even spend all the time with him I should have. And, when I think about that, I can't deny that a part of me, wants to say yes. If I could have him back, the way that we were when I last saw him, I would. I want him back to help teach me the things he never could. To help guide me whenever I don't know what to do. To give me someone to rely on that doesn't disappear for months at a time or sacrifices himself for us. I want my father back, I really do.

But, then I think about what he'd say. I know that if he knew I was resurrecting him using something like the Oni Masks he'd likely never forgive me. He wouldn't want to come back like that. When we last spoke in the Cursed Realm, I knew that he was telling me that I had to stand on my own feet. He'd given all he could, even if he wasn't given the time he really needed to tell me what he needed to. I know that he'd lived his life without regret. He'd cleared himself of his greatest one over the letter before I sent him away. Whenever I feel selfish and start to ask for him back, I just remember that he would've wanted me to carry on his legacy, not drag him back into my own. Even if it hurts, I know that he wouldn't want me to bring him back.

I think the reason I remember how she talked to me about that, about our families, is because looking back, she was manipulating me. She wanted me to say something to her. She wanted me to admit I wanted him back. I don't know if it was because she wanted to try to drag me into her plans… no, I know that's not why. She never wanted me around. She hated me. She wanted me to admit that I wanted him back. Just so she could use that against me. She wanted me to watch my precious father take me down and destroy every ounce of hope I had left. And it made her words just stick out to me even more, even if I didn't know why at the time:

"I can't imagine what must be going through your head. Whatever happens, I'll be here."

Yeah, Harumi. You really were there. There for every single minute of it.

What makes me upset about all this, was that I was falling for her manipulations. I was actually falling for her. I felt attracted to her. I felt like I wanted to _be with_ her. She knew it. She had to have known it from the start. She tried to kiss me after saying that. She was trying to get me to fall for her, just so it hurt even more. And the only good thing I can say, is that I didn't let her kiss me that time. That time. I was such an idiot. Such a stupid, stupid idiot.

After we entered the Dead Man's Squall, everything went wrong. I really should've seen this coming. It's not like we can actually escape without having something go wrong. Mr. E had put something inside Zane that, when we brought Zane onboard, snuck out and started disabling the ship's systems. Namely, it got to Pixal. I know I mentioned at the start that Pixal had more or less shown back up and gone back to working in our systems. It turned out, whatever Mr. E had put in Zane wasn't to take down the Bounty directly, but more so to get to Pixal in our systems. This was important, since it meant that it took control of Samurai X.

Yes, we found out that Pixal was actually Samurai X because she was taken over to come and attack us and take down the Bounty that way. I was originally thinking of really going into detail here about how it all felt at the time, and what was going on through my head, but I've already kinda said it all before now. I don't get why she was hiding it in hindsight, since Borg and Zane were already in danger before she became Samurai X, and I don't really even feel shocked since it feels like she'd been apart of our team since Zane integrated her chip into his systems. So, I'm not really as shocked at this as I thought I would be. Even at the time, I don't remember being that surprised, more so just worried that something was about to go wrong.

I'd go into detail with the fight, but I wasn't around for a lot of it. Pixal in her mech attacked us. I'm used to fighting mechs, but I normally have one of my own. I managed to hold my own against her for a good while, actually, given how it was both raining and she was in a mech. Before the battle, I'd given Harumi a sword to defend herself if we couldn't. Harumi had also grabbed the map for us. Pixal managed to get the upper hand, and Harumi narrowly stopped me from getting skewered. I was so shocked at her saving me that it gave Pixal enough time to grab Harumi in her mech and then try to fly away.

...I really wish I could say I made a smart move here, but I didn't. I was so shocked at seeing Harumi get taken that I grabbed my sword, and decided the best move was to jump off the Bounty and onto the mech flying through the air, in a thunderstorm. As if that wasn't bad enough, I jammed my sword into the mech's systems to disable it. Pixal launched out and back up to the Bounty, and I'd just stranded myself and Harumi on a mech that was falling out of the sky.

Really, it could have gone a lot worse than it did. I used the map Harumi had grabbed as a makeshift parachute to slow my fall just enough so I didn't die hitting the ground, while I stuffed Harumi into the mech to break her fall. Really, the two of us were lucky to still be alive. I guess for thinking on the fly, I was doing pretty well. We didn't die, which was what that easily could have turned into. If I'd used my head instead of jumping randomly after her, I might have been able to prevent what was going to happen next.

The two of us crashed into the jungle. The others managed to stop Pixal by destroying the bug that Mr. E had planted in Zane, but still failed to stop Pixal from knocking the Bounty out of the sky. It was just another crash of the Bounty really. What was more important to me was that I'd just crash landed in the jungle, with Harumi. The two of us had been separated from the others, and were lost in a jungle that was said to be deadly, with nothing but a sword, a broken mech, and each other.

If I'd wanted to give Harumi a better opportunity to get me away from the ninja for her plan, I'd have had to gift wrap it for her. Not only that, but I injured my right arm falling from the sky, so I was injured on top of it. Once she got out from the mech, we realized that we were alone in the jungle, and had no idea where the other ninja had gone. All we could do was use the map that we had and make our way deeper into the jungle.

Our worst escape ever was still playing right into her plan. We were about to walk right into the vent to start all of this, and I had no idea the one being the quietest about it, was right beside me the entire time.

* * *

"Okay," Lloyd stretched, "I think I feel good about that one. I was kinda getting long with chapters for awhile, I think these shorter ones work well. What do you think, Jay?"

"I think they're good," Jay smiled. In truth, he was just happy that this time, Lloyd hadn't sounded ready to break his chair out of anger.

"Sweet," Lloyd stood up, "Alright, you want to go and get some food? Kai said he'd be out tonight so nobody is cooking dinner just yet."

"Sure, should I invite the others?" Jay asked, "They might want something!"

"Nah, Cole said he's got some things to do, and I don't think Zane eats unless someone makes something for him. Doesn't want to waste food, I think," Lloyd shrugged, "I'm good to go anywhere. We can just fly the Bounty anywhere."

"Hrmm, there's this place that Nya wanted to try," Jay perked up, "It might be nice to surprise her and take her out somewhere. It's nothing fancy, it's this new sushi place. I bet she's still training, can I invite her?"

"Sure, I don't mind," Lloyd shook his head, "I'll eat anything."

"Sweet!" Jay chirped. Before he left the room, however, he stopped. Lloyd blinked in surprise, and in turn Jay turned to look at him.

"Hey, Lloyd?" Jay spoke up, "Does writing all this stuff make you feel better?"

"Huh?" Lloyd blinked, "Like, making the book?" Jay nodded, letting Lloyd take a moment to think of his response to that.

"I think it does," Lloyd crossed his arms, "It helps to actually tell someone how it all felt from my perspective. Like, just give my side of the story. And, thinking about what I want to talk about helps too. So, yeah, I think it does. Is there a reason you ask?"

"Just was wondering!" Jay nodded, "Alright, I'm gonna go and grab Nya!"

"Sweet," Lloyd chuckled, "I'll go meet you at the control panel."

Jay let Lloyd leave the room before him, and in turn Jay went the opposite direction. Jay made his way over towards one of the training rooms on the ship, and in turn he did indeed hear the sound of someone grunting and groaning behind the door. Jay sighed and took a moment to wait for it to calm down, then opened the door.

"Nya?" Jay called out, "Are you there?"

"Hey! Jay!" Nya turned from the punching bag she had just been attacking. She shook her head to knock the sweat off and grabbed a towel to throw around her shoulders, "What's up?"

"Just admiring how strong you are," Jay chuckled, "Lloyd and I are heading out to eat. You hungry?"

"Sure, I can take some time off training to eat," Nya smirked, "You better watch out, Jay, I'm close to beating your record for the training course."

"Wait, really?!" Jay looked over at the wall, seeing a list of Nya's times hse's scribbled in, "Wow, you're getting really close! Looks like I'll just have to go and one up myself, just like always."

"The only thing you one up is your record in video games," Nya rolled her eyes.

"Well then we both have something we're good at!" Jay smirked. He walked up to Nya and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. As soon as he did, Nya chuckled and waved him off.

"Gross, Jay!" Nya ran her towel through her hair, "I just got done training! I'm all sweaty."

"I can't help but want to whenever I see you like this," Jay smiled warmly, "It reminds me of what I like so much about you."

"Ugh, you're so corny," Nya rolled her eyes, "You're lucky I like you for it."

"Heh, yeah," Jay nodded. When he didn't respond, Nya blinked in surprise. After a moment, she leaned in towards him.

"Something up?" Nya asked as she walked her way over to grab a water bottle to down, "You seem down."

"Not down, just worried," Jay rubbed his arm, "I knew Lloyd was torn up about Harumi, but, I never knew it was this bad for him. He sounds, really angry when we record chapters. I'm… kinda worried about him."

"Cole said the same thing, so did my brother," Nya shook her head, "I think he just need sto get it all out. Keep recording with him, or whatever it is you do. I think letting him talk helps."

"I know, I know," Jay sighed, "But I feel like I should be doing something more for him! I mean… he sounds so sad. Like, he's in pain and we barely even saw it."

"Then you should just make sure to be there for him," Nya wrapped her arm around Jay, "Listen, Lloyd isn't like you guys. But look how doing all this has helped him get closer to the others. I mean, he's actually starting to look pretty buff after all that time with Cole, and he's got Kai cooking again! I'm sure if you be there for him, he'll open up to you even more."

"Mhm…" Jay nodded his head, "Thanks, babe. I needed to hear that."

"Hmmph, was there ever any doubt?" Nya hugged him from the side and took a step forward, "C'mon, I gotta shower if we're going out and get ready. Tell Lloyd to wait up a few minutes for me, alright?"

"Take all the time you need!" Jay called out. Nya winked at him and then disappeared down the hallway as well. Jay, feeling his heart a bit lighter, let out a small inhale and exhale before making his way up towards the control deck. Nya was right. He'd be sure to be there for Lloyd. Lloyd would open up to him soon. And when he did, he'd be there for the kid. Such was his thought as he readied himself both for the night out, and for what was surely going to be a rough set of chapters for his friend.


	39. The Quiet Journey

I hate myself for letting Harumi get to me as much as she did in that jungle.

We were only in the jungle for a few days, but it felt like weeks. Of all the things it reminds me of, I have the same feelings about it as when my dad and I were escaping the Golden Master. It was a small period of time that was way longer than I thought it really was. Of course, I think back on that time with my dad and feel happy that I got any time with him. I look back on that jungle, and all I feel is anger.

...You know, the more I really take the time to think about it, I never really spent that much time with Harumi before she turned on us. I spent more time with her as my enemy, than I did with her as my friend. But knowing that all of that time was a lie, makes it hard for me to ever think that I was considering being her friend. Considering being, more than that. I've already said this, but I liked her at first. I'd never felt that way about someone before. I'd never thought of someone like that, and thought about something more than just helping them. And she used that to her advantage whenever she could.

I don't like talking about Harumi, like this. I don't like being angry about her. And I know the more I keep trying to say that, the worse it looks. I don't want to hate someone. I don't want to sit here and feel all this anger towards her. The only reason that I can even talk about this, is because I've told myself that I'm the better person for this. That, somehow, when I told her that I wouldn't give into my hatred like she did, that I meant it. That I can do that. I don't know why, but I sometimes doubt that. I start to doubt that, the more I keep trying to talk about her. And it doesn't help that this was all recent for me. I haven't gotten to think about all this, like I have with my father, like with Morro and Chen. Harumi is, all right now. And knowing that, just makes me start to think that I am being too harsh on her. Because I know that the only reason she ended up like this, was because I did this to her.

But then I think again. I think about what she did. What sort of things that she made me go through. And then I get angry again. I don't want to be angry! I don't, want to be like this. But it's this moment here, this part, that she finally showed me her true colors. That was when I realized that she was being quiet this entire time for a reason.

Ugh, I'm not making sense. Let's just start from after we got out of the mech. We spent the first night with the mech, at which point I left a note for the others to find us. I tried to fix the thing, but I'm not the best with machines. Nothing happened that first night. We were too scared about being in the middle of a dangerous jungle without any sort of mech or thing to help us that it wasn't worth trying to talk. We just huddled down and tried to make it through.

We woke up the next morning with a massive green creature trying to yank the mech out from over us and eat us. My right arm was still busted up from the fall, so Harumi used the map to tie up a sling for me and we ran. We barely managed to get away. I've fought some big creatures before, and I'm pretty sure that it had to be some cousin to the Grundle. ...Which, I don't know why I know what that is. We fell into a pit and let it pass over us. After it was long gone, we decided to try to follow the map.

The first hint that I should've had something was up with Harumi was how she took my sword for me and started cutting through the jungle with it like it was nothing. I didn't care at the time, but she knew how to handle it. We were more focused on just getting through the forest than anything.

There was always something about Harumi that made me think about her. I think at the time, I could feel that there was more to her than she was letting on. She was beautiful, but she was smart too. I never felt like I had to dumb down what I was saying to tlak to her. She knew what to say to make me start to trust her. She knew what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know more about her, though. I knew what she'd told me, but at the time what I wanted to know was more about who she was. I just felt.. .driven, to get to know her.

How much of that was intentional? I don't know how much she'd planned for this. She had me alone, which I knew she'd need eventually. But the parts about making me fall for her… I don't know how she did it. I don't know if she planned that, or just changed her strategy in knowing it. But either way, she got me to want to be around her. She got me to want to see more about her. And… she was able to use that against me, right when we needed it most.

The only time that I actually was able to suspect her was when we entered a place called Strangler's Path. We'd been hiking all day, and other than us getting such a rude awakening in the morning, we didn't exactly see anything else. So I let my guard down and got grabbed by plants that tried to drag me into a tree. I'm sure that if they'd gotten me inside, I wouldn't have gotten out. Harumi had my sword at the time and, without even blinking, threw it perfectly through the air from at least twenty feet away to cleave through the vines and save me. I was confused and started asking how she'd learned to do that. I didn't even take her excuse of beginner's luck as an answer. It was right when I started to pry that she kissed me.

Before, she'd tried to do it on the Bounty when we first entered the Dead Man's Squall. I don't know if I said that or not, but she'd been toying with my feelings since then. When we were alone in the jungle, I got anxious knowing that we'd be alone together. I didn't get it until she kissed me. I realized when she did, it was because I felt like something like that would happen. With her taking the first move like that, though, I didn't feel worried anymore. I almost felt happy to hear it. And I let her just keep on manipulating me. Just like that. I let her kiss me just so she could keep up this game with me longer.

I remember after that, I wasn't exactly up for talking. I was so embarrassed knowing that a girl had just kissed me, that Harumi had kissed me, that I was afraid of saying something stupid and making her take it back. I don't know how I even thought that, but I did. I thought that if I said something stupid, she'd take back kissing me. I was such an idiot. I was so stupid.

The thing was, Harumi didn't always talk first. Most of the time, she let me bring up a conversation, or she'd just say one small thing and let me take over. I remember my mother telling me at some point that I talk a lot, and that sometimes the best way to get other people to talk is to tell them something that they want to hear about. She would ask me things about my life, about me being a ninja, me being the son of Garmadon, asking me about all our adventures and such. She really had done her research. She'd ask me a question about Morro, and I'd go on and tell her about all of it. I'd ask her about the palace, and later it would turn into getting me talking about the Monastery. She was a quiet one. The Quiet One.

In a small way, I felt like I was getting to know Harumi. Now, I know that she was really just getting me to talk about myself and making me think I was getting to know her. She wasn't letting me actually get close to me. She was holding me back, but also telling me that we were close. It makes me think if other people have done that to me. Did Morro do that to me when he was in my head? Did the Twins get us to do that? I know that it's not how it happened, but I can't help but think about it. I start thinking, and I keep coming back to how I feel like she just… used me. How she let me think, we were actually going to be something.

We eventually found our way to a boat that was docked in the river, with a copy of the map that we were using. From what I understand, Harumi had sent some of the SOG to find the temple, and this was the aftermath of it. I would say something about her sending people to their deaths, but it's still a small crime compared to what she facilitated through my dad. So, 'll just say that we used the boat to get down the river and make our way closer.

Remember how I talked about wanting to see my father again last chapter? Harumi asked me that question when I was on the boat. It was the first time I'd thought about it. I'd been so wrapped up by then really thinking about stopping the SOG that I wasn't thinking about why I was stopping them. I knew that my father wouldn't want me to bring him back like the SOG were trying to. I told her that I didn't want it, and she took that for an answer. We would have talked more, but that was when we got our first taste of what exactly was in the jungle that was trying to kill us… again.

Long story short, we were nearly killed by a giant crab, and were only saved by going over a waterfall. It's honestly such a mundane thing for me to get attacked like that, I was more concerned at the time for Harumi than myself. I guess all that time spent on the Bounty and getting shot down eventually makes the idea of crashing less scary for me. I only got to see part of the crab at first, so right now, I'll just leave this at saying that after we crashed, we dragged ourselves out of the water and found that we'd reached the Oni Temple we'd been searching for.

You know… I think I'm going to just skip to the part where we found the mask. I don't have anything to say about what happened when we got there and how we got to the chamber. The only thing to note was that it was set up so you had to break a wall that didn't flood the room. There was a story about the Oni in the room, about how they had come looking for the First Spinjitzu Master after he fled their realm. But I wasn't paying attention to that. I didn't care about that. Right now, we were there for the mask. And everything that happened next, was when everything I knew about Harumi truly started.

I wish I knew why it was this moment that I have nightmares about. It wasn't a moment that hurt me in the way that Morro did. It didn't do something to my friends, or something to my dad. It didn't even hurt me that badly. But whenever I think about it, I remember every detail about that room. I remember the pedestal with purple flames protecting the mask. The walkways over a massive pit that led to it. The golden symbols on the floor, painted there by Oni a long time ago. I remember how my voice echoed a bit whenever I talked. How I could hear the water from the rooms around us. I remember everything.

I slipped on the way inside when we got there, and Harumi helped me up. When we got to the pedestal, she tried to take the mask. When she did, it repelled her. She wasn't able to grab it like she wanted. I was thinking of a way to try to knock it out, when she told me that only someone with Oni blood could take the mask. When she said it, I didn't think anything of it at first. I reached out and placed my hands in the fire. I didn't feel anything. I was able to grab the mask and pull it out, without anything. But when I had it, the Mask of Hatred, in my hands, I realized what she said wasn't right.

How did she know I had Oni blood? Once I felt that thought in my head, something began to pull at my strings. Things started to add up. How she'd thrown my sword so perfectly. How she'd been there when we were attacked by Samurai X. I remembered she'd said she needed me when I was saving her from Samurai X. Suddenly, things in my head were starting to go in a place I didn't want them to go. I was thinking that something was wrong with Harumi. She shouldn't have known I had Oni blood.

I asked her how she knew, and she tried to tell me she just guessed from it being an Oni temple. But that wasn't right. I knew it wasn't right. Only Jay and I were there when Mystake told me about the First Spinjitzu Master's origins. I remember the way she tried to keep lying about how she overheard it from Jay. I hated what I was thinking. I hated that I was feeling like she was lying to me. I hated the fact that I thought she was the Quiet One, the leader of the SOG.

What sealed it for me, was when I asked her about it. I told her that I thought it was her. She asked me how I could think that about her, and I thought that too. If she hadn't tried to kiss me, then maybe I would have believed her. When she went in to kiss me, though, I knew that something was wrong. She was trying to distract me. And the only reason she was doing that, was because I was getting too close to her.

Something in me snapped. I pushed her way. I realized everything that had happened, was because of her. She'd killed the Emperor and Empress. She'd made us crash, separated me from my friends. She'd nearly killed Zane by telling the SOG about him. She'd been the one behind all of this. She was the Quiet One. And I'd just led her to the mask. All of that time we'd spent together suddenly felt like it was all just coming undone. I hated everything that I was thinking, but I knew it was true.

I can't get the words she said to me out of my head. When she was little, the Great Devourer tore through the city. Her parents died, but she survived. Lord Garmadon had been the one to take the Devourer down. Not us. I was the one that unleashed it. I'd killed her family, because I'd been the one that let Pythor out. She told me everything right there. I learned that I had been the one to hurt Harumi more than anyone else in the world.

I wanted to get away from her. All that time we'd spent on theBounty, all that time we spent in the jungle, it all felt like it was far away. As if, it just hadn't happened. I felt like I was falling through the pit around us. I hadn't ever felt like that before. I hadn't been betrayed like this before. Nothing had hurt me like that before. And Harumi was just smiling. She was smiling while she tore me apart with her words.

She drew a knife, and we fought. I didn't want to hurt her, and she knew it. Whenever I tried to attack, she'd push me away. She was willing to kill me then and there. We were fighting over the mask, but I didn't care about it. I didn't want to fight her. Everytime I tried to attack, I just felt like I was hurting one of my friends. But at the same time, she just kept going. Everything she said just made it worse. That's what made Harumi so different from everyone. Morro had torn me down with my memories, but Harumi tore me down with her words. She knew I felt more guilt than anything just hearing that I'd been the one to open up those tombs.

I don't know why. I don't get it. I don't know why it hurts so much. Why is it that moment that I keep thinking about? There's another big one, I'll talk about that later. But if I dream about Harumi, I almost always end up back in that temple. I end up there with her, holding that knife, telling me about every horrible thing I'd done. Telling me, about how horrible a person I was to her. And aach time, it always ends when I pick up the mask and throw it into the pit. It ends when Harumi jumps in after it. Only in my dreams, she doesn't come back up.

The Mask of Hatred's power was to turn you into an invincible stone warrior, though not the ones from the Dark Island. When she put it on, I'd already lost the fight. Just trying to use the knife broke it over her new body. She jumped back up and attacked me. I couldn't do anything to hurt her. But she could hurt me. She told me what she wanted to do. She didn't want to hurt me physically. She wanted me to feel the pain of losing her parents to the Devourer. She wanted my father back so he could tear me apart. She wanted him back, so that she could take everything from me.

I wasn't able to stop her. She ran out of the room and smashed the rooms that caused the room to flood. The only reason I didn't drown was because I got sucked into an underwater current that dragged me out of the temple and out the waterfalls that were above it. I'm not sure how it worked. But I know that the moment the water filled the room to when I ended up outside the temple was a blur to me.

The SOG had attacked my friends before they got to the temple, so I was shocked to see that the SOG were there. But I was more shocked to see that the crab monster that had tried to kill us had come back for us. It was more of a scorpion when it was out of the water, but whatever. I don't remember that fight. I was so numb from everything. I was so numb from what I'd heard that I was fighting on autoiplot. I was just doing what I had to. I told my friends that Harumi was the Quiet One, but that's really it.

And… I made a stupid decision. I wasn't thinking well at all. I saw Harumi and the SOG take the Bounty while we were fighting. They were going to get away. If I hadn't just been betrayed, beaten up by a crab thing and saw I was about to lose, I might have thought this through more. But I didn't. I had my friends launch me after them. I just wanted to get that mask. I just… wanted to stop Harumi.

I didn't. She captured me, since I'd just jumped onto a ship of the entire SOG without thinking. I was so angry I barely even cared. I demanded hse give me back the mask, and she just laughed. She didn't sound the same anymore. She didn't even look like the Harumi I'd gotten to know. She declared we were heading home for a family reunion, which was when Killow grabbed me and knocked me out. It was the dumbest possible way for me to go and try to stop them, but it didn't matter. I'd given Harumi everything she wanted.

The quiet journey had come to an end, and now, I was going to see my father again. The game of masks had been won, and I had lost.

* * *

"There," Lloyd sighed, "That's, really all I wanted to talk about for right now."

Jay didn't look happy. Lloyd slowly sat back in his chair, closing his eyes for a moment. Talking about this one hurt. On one hand, he'd wanted to tell everything he could about Harumi. He wanted to make clear why she'd hurt him so much. On the other hand, whenever he said anything, it felt like he was forcing it out of himself. He didn't know if he'd done the job he needed to. Even if he hadn't, however, he didn't want to try to redo it.

"Lloyd…" Jay sat up, "I, didn't know that she did all that to you. We all just, assumed that she'd betrayed you. I didn't know how much she hurt you. And, we're only up to this part. Are you sure you want to keep going with this?"

"What do you mean?" Lloyd frowned, "Of course I do. I have to tell the whole thing. Everyone in Ninjago knows who Harumi is. They need to know what she did to me."

"Do they?" Jay asked, "If you're trying to tell them what really happened, you don't have to talk about it this much. I'm getting worried about this."

"You don't have to," Lloyd shook his head, "I've been doing this with the others so far. I'll be fine. I'm going to get all this done, I promise."

"It doesn't sound like you want to, though," Jay frowned, "You just sound so angry, all the time. Lloyd, I, think you really should know that you don't have to talk about all this. You can just talk about what you want to."

"I won't do that," Llyod informed him, "I'm going to say all of it. Got it?"

"...Fine," Jay frowned back at him, "But at least, promise me one thing, okay?"

"What?" Lloyd asked.

"That you don't hate yourself for what happened," Jay leaned forward.

Lloyd was taken aback by what he heard. Jay wasn't normally like this. He normally was way more happy and ready to talk about something else. He expected to hear this from Cole, or even Nya. But hearing it out of Jay was enough to make Lloyd feel like something was wrong. Was.. there something wrong with the way he'd been doing these chapters?

"I… I don't, Jay." Lloyd shook his head, "I promise that I don't hate myself for it. I know what happened and, I know that in the end, she brought this on herself. I couldn't have done anything to change it. Even if she hurt me… I don't hate myself. I promise."

"Okay… okay," Jay nodded his head, "Alright. Then, can you do something else for me?"

"Erm… what now?" Lloyd asked awkwardly.

"Pay you back for the restaurant?" Jay smiled awkwardly back, "I haven't got a chance to ask."

"Uh…" Lloyd blinked. That was right. When they'd gone out for dinner after the last chapter, Jay had forgotten his wallet, so Lloyd had to pick up the bill. For a moment, Lloyd wasn't sure why Jay brought it up, but he wasn't going to question it, "...Sure?"

"Then let's go out to the arcade," Jay stood up, "The one near Ronin's place just got some new games and I want to try them out!"

"You.. want to pay me back, by taking me out to an arcade you want to go?" Lloyd smirked, "Really, Jay?"

"Unless you think you're not good enough to beat me at a game I've never played!" Jay declared.

"Oh, you know I can't not go now," Lloyd jumped up, "Come on, we're going now!"

Jay watched as Lloyd walked out of the room. For a moment, all Jay could do was sigh in relief. Nya's advice had paid off. After a moment to gather himself, Jay followed his friend, ready to help put these chapters behind him for the time being.


	40. Emperor Garmadon

When I woke up from being knocked out, we'd already made our way to Ninjago City. I'm not quite sure how everyone manages to have vengestone for locking us up whenever they capture us, but I wasn't able to fight back with them on. For a while, Harumi kept me blindfolded so I wasn't sure where we were. All I was really able to hear was Ultraviolet making weird noises and Killow laughing as he pushed me around. Even if I did manage to get away, I wasn't going to make it far since they all had the masks.

Harumi let me see where we were when we started climbing stairs up some weird tunnel. Harumi had destroyed the palace to expose the Temple of Resurrection hidden inside of it. I'm, not really sure where that temple was inside the palace, but to me it was just a reminder that Harumi had murdered her adopted family, Hutchins and at least some of the palace staff that didn't make it out in time. The fact that she didn't seem phased by it just told me how horrible she really was deep down. And made me hate the fact I never saw it before.

Once we were up at the actual altar to resurrect my father, Harumi revealed that she had a bit of insurance on me. Apparently, she found my mother when she went looking for the Oni, and had set up a device so that if the ninja tried to rescue us, either me or mom would get dropped into the water to drown. She kept calling it a family reunion, which made me even angrier. She hadn't met my real father. She didn't know how hard he'd struggled against the venom inside of him. She didn't know what I'd had to do to help him. She didn't know what it took for me to actually finally send him off, and how much I both wanted him back and didn't want him back.

While I was there, all Harumi did was taunt me. She taunted me over how I'd let her get so close, how I'd let her get right into my heart. There was nothing more painful than a blow to the heart, she said. And she was right. I'd felt it when I'd sent my father away. I felt it when we lost Master Wu. And now, I was feeling it knowing she'd intentionally made me fall for her. Everytime I would get angry with her, she'd just laugh at me. She acted like I was just a child. I guess I really was. No matter what she said, I was just a child that had fallen for a pretty girl, and she'd used me to get what she wanted.

Once I was shoved in that cage, I was given more time to think. I didn't want to talk to mom. She kept trying to help us escape, but I didn't feel like it. I knew the Oni Masks were there, and it was pointless. But I just felt like trying wasn't worth it. She'd already gotten what she wanted. I was angry, yes, but I was also hurt. I didn't want to admit to them just how much Harumi had hurt me. I didn't want them to see that I was hurt over some girl I hardly knew. They already knew, so it wasn't worth it. But I was so upset, I just didn't want to care.

Harumi waited until it was nighttime to actually start the ceremony. Whenever she came to talk to me, I'd try to talk to her. I told her that she wasn't going to get anything from revenge. That trying to bring my father back wasn't going to bring her family back. Hurting me wouldn't make her feel better. But she didn't care. No matter what I said, she just would laugh and keep going. She really had planned for everything, and she was enjoying this. I think that was what really hurt. The fact that I could tell Harumi was enjoying just how hurt I was by her betraying me like that. I knew I couldn't stop her with words, but that was all I could do. Just talk to her. And talking was what had hurt me so much already.

I thought about trying to go into detail about the ceremony, but so much of it is a blur to me, kinda because the ninja let me drown for a good half of it. The only parts that I really remember are the start, where Harumi opened the portal, and the end where we knocked her off the altar. There isn't that much for me to say about it, because it wasn't the ceremony itself that was important. It was that I thought that I finally won. I thought I finally had a chance to stop Harumi. I thought that we'd managed to stop her. When I pushed through that ceremony and knocked her back, I thought I stopped her.

There's one thing about the ceremony that I want to say. I remember hearing him, the few times I was out of the water. I could hear the voice from the strange portal she was opening. I could hear his voice. But, the voice I heard was wrong. Everything about it was wrong. It was too deep, too angry. I thought that maybe I was hearing things. Maybe that wasn't him. I wanted it to not be him. So when that portal shut, and it failed, I thought we'd won.

...The greatest enemy is the one that gets away. Harumi told me that. I thought when we put her in jail, when we arrested all of those bikers, that it was over. I wanted it to be over. I knew it wasn't over, though. Somehow, deep down, I knew something wasn't right. I didn't know the ceremony had actually finished, but somehow I knew Harumi wasn't done. And I think that's why while the others were celebrating, and thinking they'd won, I couldn't relax. Because I was thinking about her. I was thinking about Harumi.

I think maybe why I don't think about the ceremony is because it wasn't actually important. What was important was the fact I let Harumi get what she wanted. I let her twist me over again. I let her keep making me upset, knowing that something wasn't right. I don't know if she planned that, but she'd said she wanted to hurt me. The fact I knew I wasn't able to celebrate with the others made me think she'd won, even if she didn't. I wish, above all else, she didn't.

Seeing my father had broken Harumi out was like watching your greatest fear play out on screen. Ever since Harumi had put it in my head she could bring back my father, I'd hoped that she couldn't do it. I didn't want him back. Even if part of me did, I knew it wasn't right. I'd fought and fought ,and thought I'd finally won. Instead, I sat there, watching him run away on the TV. I watched him take Harumi out. I watched everything I thought I'd managed to stop playing out right before me. It was like I was in some horror movie.

From the moment I saw Harumi leaving with my father, I knew that I couldn't let him get away. I knew that everything had been because of me. The others wanted to go and make a plan, but I didn't care. We got on the Bounty and started making our way to Kryptarium. I wasn't thinking about anything like a plan, or what I was going to do. All of that anger that Harumi had been building in me from the moment she turned on me was coming to a head. After I thought I stopped that ceremony, I was watching everything just, unravel. And I couldn't let it stand.

My father was my responsibility. I'd let Harumi get close to me. I'd let her use me to take the Mask of Hatred. I'd let her use me in the ceremony and bring back my father. It was all my fault. My friends tried to talk some sense into me, but I wasn't listening. I was angry. I was angrier at myself than I'd ever been before. I'd been angry on the Dark Island. I'd been beaten down and hurt by Chen. I'd been tortured inside my own head by Morro. But Harumi had guided me to making my own mistakes. Everything that happened next, was because of me. I couldn't let that happen.

They say when you get angry, you make dumb mistakes. My mistake was thinking that I had to do this on my own. The others wanted to hold back and think of a plan. He was held up in that prison with Harumi and all the SOG, so we couldn't just run in. We stayed there for hours trying to debate things. I don't remember what they said. Whenever someone came up with a plan, someone else figured out the problem with it. That was the situation we were in. That was what was going on. And eventually, I decided it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth letting my friends try to solve all of this for me.

So, I made a choice. I locked the Bounty's navigation to send it to some random place in Ninjago. Then, I gathered each of my friends down in the ship and told them Nya had a plan for them. When I finally got Nya in there… I locked them inside. I locked them inside and told them that I had to do this. They begged me not to go, but I knew they couldn't get out. Not in time to stop me. They shouted at me to stay, told me it was stupid, and all I did was turn and run to go and call my car to go to the prison. That was the reason I was alone in that footage.

I don't even need to ask what would have happened if my friends had been there. It wasn't like I didn't know. I knew from the moment I left the Bounty what was going to happen. I wanted to save my father, ye. But more than anything, I wanted to stop Harumi. This wasn't about just saving Ninjago anymore. I was angry. I was hurt. I wanted to show Harumi that she couldn't get away with her plans. I think my friends saw that. They saw I wasn't in my right mind. But they weren't going to stop me. They tried calling me as I drove there, and it just made me angrier. Every word they said to get me to turn around just felt like I was hearing Harumi's laughter in my head. I smashed the entire console just to shut them up. I knew that, if I really took the time to listen, I'd be forced to turn back.

I wondered at first if I even needed to go over this section. You all know what happened. Harumi made sure you all saw it. Everyone saw what happened when I confronted my newly reborn father. You all saw me fail, watched me get beaten to near death, watched me lose hope as he just took more and more from me while Harumi and the others just watched. It was the perfect way to make sure everyone in Ninjago lost hope. When they saw me, their symbol, their protector, get beaten up, it was the end. I don't know if I even have to get into it, really.

But I guess what I can do is explain what was going on when I fought him. When I first got there, I was expecting to fight Harumi, or any of the SOG. I was ready to take them down, and that's why I was so anxious. I was ready to show them how angry I was for trying to take me in like that. I was upset for how they'd all humiliated me. I wanted to make the mpay for what they'd done. I wanted to make them all pay for making me look like an idiot.

When I first saw him, I knew everything was wrong. He didn't look anything like what I thought he would. The only bit of him that even resembled the man that I used to call Lord Garmadon was his face. His body looked like it was being held together by magic and some sticky goo. The armor he wore was like something out of a twisted comic book. But his eyes were what stood out to me the most. My father's eyes were evil, but they were never filled with anger like that. I remember his eyes looking sad whenever we talked. I know it was because he didn't want to accept what destiny had laid out for us. But this… that thing I was looking at, his eyes were nothing but anger and rage. There wasn't anything left of my father. Just by looking at him… I knew it.

I tried to talk to him. I tried to reason with him. But I already knew from the first blow that it wasn't going to be him. I wanted to hold on, like I'd done so many times and try to push for him. He would show me later that he was indeed still capable of loving me. But I was already angry, and confused, and scared. All those times I'd fought with my father before on the Dark Island, even before that, felt like they never happened. It was like I was just a little kid again, being thrown around by someone that I couldn't even hope to hit. I realized from the minute it started that Garmadon wasn't fighting to win. He was fighting to kill me.

Even now, I can feel where he hurt me. I can remember each blow to me. I can remember how it felt to get hit by that dark power. The Overlord's power was like being hit with something that hurt you at your very core. Garmadon's power, wasn't even like that. It was like someone lighting a fire on you that just burns deeper the longer that you wait. It didn't go away after just one hit. It kept burning and burning, piling on like it was trying to eat me alive. Whenever he hit me, it was like getting smashed by a truck. I broke bones just trying to stop him. He just kept coming, and coming. He kept hurting me over, and over again.

And finally, I got angry. I was trying to stop him. I wanted to try to save him. But you can see the moment that I finally snapped and tried to attack him with my full power. The longer it went on, it felt like my body was getting weaker, while he got stronger. It just kept hurting more and more as he hit me. I was getting angry to try to just keep going. I thought that if I did that, maybe I could get Harumi to see I wasn't giving in. Maybe I'd show her I wasn't going to lose. All it did was just play right into her hand.

He called everything that I knew him as a mask. He said being mom's husband was one. Being Wu's brother was one. Being my teacher was one. But what hurt the most was hearing that being my father was one. I knew when he said that it was already too late. He had no son anymore. I knew whenever I fought my dad that he didn't want to hurt me. That he never wanted me to follow the path that he did. This thing… this, monster Harumi had created, wasn't him anymore. Harumi wanted me to feel the pain of seeing him like this, seeing someone I didn't recognize. It was when I heard that, I understood what she meant.

I know that in the footage, I was thrown through all the walls of the prison and then landed outside. But for me, all I remember was seeing his face curl into a grin before he grabbed me and threw me. By that point, I was in so much pain I barely felt it. I didn't feel the walls breaking apart. I must have broken even more bones by doing that. But I do remember when I hit the ground, I could hear Harumi's laughter in my head. I could hear her taunting me, about how I'd failed to even stop him when I was at my full power like that. I could feel her telling me that I'd failed.

I wanted to get away from it. Before I passed out, I was terrified for some reason. I didn't know why. I wanted to get away from it. I think, knowing I couldn't beat him, there wasn't any hope for me to stay around. If he came for me, I knew it was it. I only was able to drag myself a few feet before I finally couldn't move anymore. Harumi had done what she wanted. She'd gotten me to taste the pain of seeing my father come back and hurt me like that. And she'd done it, while also making sure everyone in Ninjago saw it.

In all fairness, I should've died from that. I really should have. The only reason I didn't was because Harumi let my friends pick me up. She and her goons left for the city, but they had to have seen the Bounty. She didn't act like she was surprised to see me alive. She almost seemed happy to. I hadn't suffered enough for her already. I hadn't done enough.

My first time fighting my father was like no other fight that I'd had before. I couldn't do anything to stop Harumi. I couldn't do anything to help my father. I felt like everything had failed me. All my anger had finally been used up. I'd been angry at Harumi, I'd been angry at my father, but now I didn't have that anymore. I had just lost. I'd lost. And I think part of me, just gave up. Feeling that, feeling that I'd somehow failed to save my father, even when I'd done it before, just made me want to give up. And so, while my friends tried to help me, I was slowly fading away. According to them, it was like my life was fading.

Harumi had wanted to give me a family reunion, and she had. She'd shown me the taste of what she was going to be giving me for a long time to come. I'd met Emperor Garmadon, and now… now I was going to see that was only the first blow I was going to feel.

* * *

"...And, scene…" Lloyd sighed, "I'm… I'm done for now. I don't want to talk anymore."

Jay blinked. This was the first time that Lloyd hadn't been angry. He'd been expecting something a lot more than this, but he hadn't gotten it. Instead, Lloyd just seemed… tired.

"Hey, you don't have to talk anymore than you need to," Jay moved forward a bit, "You okay?"

"...I uhm, I think I am," Lloyd nodded, "Yeah, I'm good. I'm, I'm good. I'm gonna be okay…. I'm, uhm, sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry for being sad!" Jay pointed out quickly, "Everyone gets sad!"

"No, I mean… for, what I did," Lloyd gripped his fists, "I locked you all up and went off on my own. I let… I let Harumi get to me. I shouldn't have. I made you all watch me…" Lloyd shuddered, "...Watch me fail."

"Hey, we all make mistakes, and it wasn't like you weren't making an easy choice," Jay frowned, "None of us knew what to do! We were all just as worried as you were. If we maybe just had some answers, you wouldn't have had to do that!"

"It's… It's still not right," Lloyd sighed, "I just… I know that it was my fault. All of this was my fault. If I hadn't gotten hurt, you all might not have gotten stuck in the Realm of Oni and Dragon."

"And then we wouldn't have been able to come back and use our awesome new dragon riding skills to help you out!" Jay pointed out, "That's why Mystake gave us the tea, remember? She knew that we'd need it. It all worked out, Lloyd. You don't have to beat yourself up about it."

"Thanks, Jay…" Lloyd sighed, "I don't know why but, I'm glad I told you all this. I know you wanted something more, well less all me being weird like this. I uh… I'm sorry I never really ended up doing anything with you outside of the chapters like I did with Cole and Kai."

"Don't sweat it!" Jay informed him, "It's more important to us that you're good. And it looks like they're doing a good job of making sure you stay good. Besides, we've been playing video games!"

"So?" Lloyd asked.

"So, you look happy when we do," Jay smiled reassuringly, "That's all I need to know that you're alright."

"Wow… thanks, Jay," Lloyd blinked, "That's, thank you. That really helps. I think, I'm doing a little better now just hearing that."

"Well, good!" Jay stood up, "Because I've been practicing at the arcade! I'm going to take you down now!"

"Take me…?" Lloyd blinked, "Wait, you're still upset that I beat you?" Lloyd sighed, "Fine, fine, we'll get going. If we go now we'll have time before dinner."

Jay let Lloyd leave the room, smiling at him as he did. For a moment, Jay thought of saying something, but it was better left here. Thoughts like that weren't suited for gaming. For now, it was just about him, Lloyd, and making up for losing at the arcade. It was just about making up for lost time.


	41. What She Took From Me

My friends decided to bring me to Mystake while I was slowly fading. I've never truly been able to figure out Mystake. Even knowing what I do about her now, I still feel like I never really knew her. She was someone that was mysterious and playful, and I got the feeling that she knew a lot about me and my family, but she would neer have told me even if I demanded an answer from her. To me, she was a woman that owned a strange teashop that I found out Wu had frequented in the past for Traveler's Tea. Even with all the time I spent with her for what was going to happen, it feels like I barely spent a single day with her.

Of course, now I know that Mystake was actually an Oni. She was one that came after the First Spinjitzu Master, but decided to stay when she saw what he'd created. That meant she'd been around since the beginning of Ninjago itself. I think maybe the reason why I don't know her well is because everything she said was always clouded in mystery. Whenever I tried to talk to her, it felt like talking to Wu in a way. Does growing up just mean that you start becoming more cryptic? But, unlike Wu, it always felt like she had a reason to be that way. It wasn't that she was trying to force me to learn a lesson. It was more like, she was always guarding something whenever we talked. If I'd been around her longer, maybe I'd be able to learn more about her.

I almost wonder if Mystake knew what would happen from the start. It felt like she knew something, since was so willing to tell us about the Tale of Oni and Dragon. I think, deep down, she knew that something like this was going to happen the moment I walked into her shop. I don't think she knew what was going to happen exactly, otherwise I would be mad at her for not telling me. But, I do wonder if she knew that, at some point, I'd end up coming to her in my time of need like this.

When my friends brought me to her, it was because of Wu. I've sorta glossed over talking about him, and part of that is just because I was so focused on Harumi that he was sorta an afterthought to me. I was always more concerned with Harumi than I was with him. Long story short, the reversal blade effects were wearing off gradually over time, so he went from an infant to a toddler in the day after Cole found him. He was the one that started drawing symbols of Mystake's tea shop. We'd sent him off to hide with mom when I saw my dad on TV, and she called to tell us. So, Mystake brewed a tea for them to use on me to help bring me back to life.

To be clear, I wasn't exactly dying of my wounds. While I was asleep, al lI felt was cold. I felt cold in a way that I couldn't understand. I think what I was feeling was Garmadon pulling on my. When the ceremony was completed, it formed some sort of connection between me and my father. I know the others think that it's silly, but I think my father was draining me of my life so he could grow stronger. When I was laying there, in the dark and in pain, he was forming the Colossus to go and attack the city. He'd been brought back using me as a link to the world, I think. Maybe I just sound weird. But I knew that I didn't feel right. I felt like I was being drained of something, but I couldn't tell what it was.

The tea that Mystake gave me was one that required my elemental power to work. I don't know why she chose to use it, but I think it was because it was all I had that I could use to fight whatever my father was doing to me. The tea worked by channeling all of our elemental powers together to heal my wounds and stop whatever was happening to me. This meant that, while I could come back, it would mean I wouldn't have the ability to use my power. I was going to trade my life for my powers, and I wasn't even awake to make that choice.

I wasn't feeling anything but cold and darkness while I was sick. But I remember the feeling of when they gave me the tea. My entire body suddenly felt like it was burning, all over. It wasn't like what it felt when Garmadon's power hit me, though. It was like a warmth was being shot right through my veins. I felt like everything inside me was working to burn away whatever had gotten into me, and was using everything it had to do it. I could feel something flowing into me the entire time, something that was just adding fuel to the flames. And then, just as I figured out what was happening, I was passed out again. This time, I was just asleep.

My friends asked me why me losing my powers like that didn't take away their powers. I think, the reason why is because they'd grown stronger enough to use their powers without me. Like I said before, my golden power was basically holding open whatever they were using to channel their powers. But it'd been years since that happened, and they'd trained hard since Morro's defeat. I think they didn't need me to do it anymore. That's why, when my power was used up to heal me, they didn't lose their powers.

I did, though. Losing them didn't feel right. I'd lost my powers before, but that had been when Chen took them. That was something different. When they were gone then, it wasn't like they'd been ripped out of me. It felt like my power was there, somewhere, and I just couldn't grab it. It was almost worse, since I felt like I could just, use them. If I did something, I could use them. But whenever I tried, they felt like they got further away. I don't know how, or even why, but that's what it felt like. And it was a feeling that just added to the fact I'd lost everything to Harumi, again.

While I was asleep, the Colossus was brought into the city. Seeing that thing was a giant reminder that I was helpless to stop my father. I was scared of it like everyone else, but it wasn't because it was something that could kill me. It was a reminder that my father was there, waiting to try to take me out. He was searching for me, but more than that, he was taking the city. The Colossus was his sign that he could do anything now. There wasn't anything to stop the Colossus.

When I did wake up, I knew immediately what had happened to me. Nya asked me if I still felt my powers, but I didn't. I didn't even need her to tell me. I could feel something was wrong about me. My body didn't feel right. Mystake's tea had healed me, but I felt weaker than I normally did. I was struggling to just sit up. The others had already left to go and try to slow down that thing, but I was left behind with Nya. I didn't know what was going on, but I could feel that my father was in the city. Somehow, I could feel him. And I could tell that he wasn't happy.

Our objective, however, wasn't stopping my father. Mom had been hiding with Wu inside Dareth's apartment, and now he was coming to take care of his brother. Nya and I rushed over as quickly as we could. Before we left, though, Mystake told me something. Something that I'll remember for a long time. I'll say it later, but I didn't care about it at the time. I needed to go and save mom. Mystake said I had a vision while I Was asleep, thanks to the tea. Maybe. But it could have just been a gut feeling, the more I think about it. Either way, I had to help them.

When we got there, Garmadon was already there. That thing that claimed to be my father was coming to kill his former wife and brother. Nya and mom stayed behind to fight him, while I grabbed Wu and ran. I didn't know where my friends were, and I was leaving behind Nya. I didn't want to leave them, but I couldn't do anything. Seeing Garmadon, still as strong as he was when I fought him, while I wasn't even able to muster the energy to fight him, I knew I had to run. I couldn't do anything. I had to just… run.

While I was running up the stairs, I felt like crying. That thing wasn't my father. I knew from the moment we fought that I could never call him my dad like I wanted to. Even if I do so now, it's usually because it's just easier to refer to him that way. Even if I know that he still was brought back with some love for me, I can't see him as my father. Knowing he was willing to fight the woman that he loved, the son he'd defied true pure evil itself for, it felt like I'd been punched in the gut, on top of all the lingering pain from my last beatdown. I knew hearing him attacking them down in the hallway behind me that he wasn't my dad. I knew that Harumi had wanted to only bring back a man to hurt me. I felt it there and then.

And, of course, it wasn't like I was going to get away with seeing Harumi at some point. When I got onto the roof, she was there waiting for me with the Mask of Hatred. She must have known I'd go running. Seeing her should have made me angry, but it just made me feel sick. I knew why she was there, I knew what she wanted from me. She wanted Wu, and to defeat me again. But I couldn't get mad. I just felt… drained. Looking at her just made my stomach turn.

I tried to reason with her. I thought maybe that she'd listen if I told her that this would just make more kids go through what she did. But I don't think she cared. I don't think that she ever truly wanted to prevent what happened to her. I know now that, deep down, she did care for others. She cared for people that would go through what she did. But she didn't care about that. Her goal wasn't to do that. She only wanted to make me suffer. She wanted to show me that I was wrong, and that no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to stop her. She wanted to just make me suffer.

I couldn't fight her, not with both Wu and how weak I was. So I ran. I ran away from Harumi as quickly as I could. I ran from rooftop to rooftop. It almost reminded me of when we'd first met, when she'd saved me from nearly falling down trying to go after her. Everything she'd done was a lie. Every bit of her that I thought I knew was just there to hurt me. I wasn't angry. It just made me want to cry more. I don't know why it was that chase that made me want to break down, but I couldn't. I had to keep going. It felt like I was a child again, and I was trying to fight the ninja. It felt like if she caught me, I would lose, for good. Harumi even offered me a chance to join her, like she was mocking me one last time. She knew I wasn't going to say yes. She just wanted to make a cruel joke.

The only way I managed to escape was by jumping onto the monorail. There was nobody inside, since everyone was fleeing from that Colossus. My friends were fighting it, and I knew it. Harumi was coming after me, but I needed them. My friends showed up on the Bounty, and I thought maybe I had some hope. I didn't know where Nya was, but I needed to get Wu to them. I was ready to jump over, but that was when Harumi caught up to me.

Harumi grabbed me, and I managed to throw Wu before she could take him. The ninja caught him, but they were forced to avoid the buildings. That was when they flew right into the grasp of the Colossus. Harumi grabbed me and held me over the side of the monorail, just so I couldn't escape. I didn't have the strength to fight her. She held me there as the Colossus began to crush the Bounty in front of me.

Harumi said she wanted me to finally lose it all, just like she had. I kept trying to fight, but I could hear it. I watched the Colossus slowly crush the Bounty. I tried to beg, to break free, but Harumi wasn't going to let go. Even without the mask, I think she could have held me. She finally was getting what she wanted. I could see my friends on the bridge, scrambling to break free. Watching as the two ends of the ship came together. Listening to Harumi laughing at me.

And then… Harumi murdered my friends, right in front of me.

I watched the Colossus finally crush the Bounty. The sight of it is burned into my mind. I can't forget it. I saw the pieces fall from its hands onto the streets. I can remember the sound of it crunching. I can remember all of it. That thing dropped it, and for all I knew, my friends were dead. Harumi tossed me back onto the monorail and laughed. Laughed seeing me in pain. Laughed saying she got what she wanted. Asking me how it felt to see the end.

In that moment, I could see what she wanted. I could see it in my head. Me, jumping up and fighting Harumi with all I had left, taking out my anger on her and trying to throw us both off the monorail and perhaps to our deaths. I could see her laughing at me and letting me die, knowing that I'd felt the worst pain she could put on me.

I could see myself giving up, laying there as Harumi laughed. I could imagine her dragging me to my father, just so he could finish me off. Or maybe even locking me up so I could spend more time feeling all of this pain. I could see it, since I didn't want to get up.

I could see myself trying to argue with Harumi, trying to demand justice for what she'd done. I could maybe try to tell her that she was wrong, and that one day, someone would come to get her. But then, I'd just be telling her what she wanted to see. Me grasping at straws.

All I could feel was pain and sadness. All I could do was just lay there, watching as it happened. For all I knew, they were dead. My friends. My mentors. My brothers. All of them, snuffed out like that. I wasn't able to stop her. I didn't know anything about where they could have gone. All I knew was that they were gone. And Harumi had been the one that had done it.

I wanted to give in to my feelings. I didn't know what that would do, though. My anger at Harumi wanted me to lash out tand do something stupid. My pain wanted me to keep lying there and just not move anymore. What was the point, when she'd already won? What was the point when I didn't have my friends by my side? What was the point, when I didn't have any power to stand up to her?

I knew what I had to do, though. It was what the Green Ninja would do. It was what I should do. I knew that I should stand up to her, and be bigger than she was. I knew that I needed to be stronger than she was. If I gave in, then I was showing her I was no better than she was. I'd suffered before. I'd faced greater evils than this. I had to stand up to her. I had to do something to keep her from truly tearing me down. I had… I had to be the Green Ninja, the city needed.

I didn't want to. I didn't want to put aside my feelings. But I knew that if I gave up, there was no one left. The only one that could stop my father, was me. I had to be the one to stop him, even if it cost me more than my life. Just standing up felt like I was lifting a mountain. But I did it. I told Harumi that I had to stand up to her. She'd taken everything from me. She'd taken my friends, my family, and now my hope. But I wouldn't let that beat me. Even if she hurt me, I was the stronger one. I was going to stand up to her, to her tyranny, no matter what.

And so, I escaped. I jumped off and landed in the same river where I'd first seen Mr. E escape to when he stole the Mask of Vengeance. Nya was waiting there to catch me. Harumi was forced to watch me get away. The greatest villain is the one that gets away. I was going to make myself that greatest villain. I'd lost everything. I'd failed the city. But I wasn't going to let her be the one that decided when I had lost.

I remember after that, I passed out. I was exhausted, and the pain of it all had worn me down. Nya took us to a safe location where we wouldn't be found. When I woke up again, they told me everything about what happened. Garmadon had taken Borg Tower and turned it into his palace. The Colossus and the SOG were roaming the streets, suppressing anyone that tried to leave or run. Ninjago had officially been declared under the rule of its new Emperor. Harumi was his right hand.

I was the one that had to tell them about the ninja. None of them cried. I knew Nya wanted to. Pixal looked like I'd just torn her heart out. And mom looked worried for me. All of them knew that I'd watched that, and I'd been the one to see it. They all thought I would give up. They were ready for me to tell them I was done. I know they wanted to cry, but they wouldn't let themselves. Not with me till being around.

Instead, I shocked them. I think the reason they didn't cry in front of me was because I told them I wasn't done. I wasn't going to let the city fall. I declared then and there that I was going to resist my father, no matter what happened. I told them I was going to fight for what I believed in. And that Harumi wasn't going to take me down.

Harumi had taken everything from me. My dad was on the throne, and now Ninjago thought I was either gone, captured, or dead. It was time for me to work my way back up to take it back. It was time that I started a Resistance.

* * *

"...Alright, there," Lloyd stretched his back out, "That's good for now. I think we're finally done with these chapters, Jay."

"Yeah, I think we are," Jay nodded his head, "I know you'd said before that you thought we were dead when you were leading the Resistance, but I didn't, know that was how you felt about it."

"Of course I did," Lloyd pointed out, "I watched you all get crushed. Why wouldn't I think you were dead?"

"Because, Mystake gave us the tea that let us travel to the First Realm!" Jay pointed out, "Why didn't she tell you?!"

Lloyd opened his mouth to respond, then went quiet. Jay stared at him intently, waiting for his reply. That was a good point. Mystake had hinted that his friends were alive, but never said anything specifically. She'd never let him know that she'd given his friends a way to escape.

"I… guess she didn't know?" Lloyd guessed, "I mean, she was just sorta dealing with the fact that the city had fallen? Maybe she didn't know."

"Yeah but like…" Jay sighed, "It's weird! Right?"

"If she knew, she'd have told me," Lloyd told Jay, "I think. I… no, she would have. She wanted me to grow strong. She knew that losing you guys hurt me a lot. She would've told me."

"I guess, but I don't like it," Jay sighed, "Speaking of Mystake, are you going to talk about…?"

"Yeah, I will," Lloyd nodded, "But I wasn't there, so I don't know how it happened. I only found out from Skylor."

"I never thought that we'd come back to find she was gone…" Jay pointed out, "I don't know how to even, feel about that. I hardly knew her but… to think that Garmadon would take her down like that, it's…"

"Don't worry about it," Lloyd shook his head, "It was my plan that caused it. I never thought that it would happen. It was my fault… it's, my thing to bear."

"...Alright," Jay frowned, "Lloyd, I know you have to talk about, that, with Nya. Look, if you need me to be there when you do, I can help. Or even Zane. You know, someone that you can… lean on?"

"I know what I'll say," Lloyd stood up, "...I've, made peace with it. I think. I'm working through it. I feel better, now that I've said everything. I know you felt weird about my chapters so, I'll try not to do that again, alright?"

"It's not that I felt weird," Jay told him, "It's that you sounded so upset. Lloyd, we're your friends. I'm glad these chapters are helping you but, you don't need to try to hide it. Tell us if you want to stop!"

"I get it, I get it," Lloyd waved his hand, "I'm fine, Jay. I appreciate it. Thanks for doing these chapters with me, even if you didn't enjoy it."

"Anything for you, Lloyd," Jay smiled, "Now, wanna go do something else? Maybe take your mind off this a little bit? Eh?"

"Sure, I got my car fixed recently, why don't we go and race a bit?"

"Oh you're on!" Jay smirked, "I'm going to school you! No one is faster than the Master of Lightning!"

"You mean the mouth of the Master of Lightning," Lloyd darted out of the room.

"The mouth of- HEY!" Jay turned to scold Lloyd, but saw he was already gone. Realizing this, Jay gave a small sigh before running after him. The two disappeared again, leaving behind one chapter of the story, and leaving the next open for the last one to hear his story.


	42. The Resistance Never Quits

On the day that Garmadon claimed Ninjago for his own, I officially became Ninjago's number one most wanted. I can say with confidence, that the first week of being hunted by the SOG and Garmadon was one of the hardest ones in my entire life.

Once I met back up with Nya and Pixal, we picked up my mother and Dareth. The five of us were the only ones in the city that we knew we could trust. Garmadon made it his prime objective to find me. Somehow, he knew that I was still alive, and I think that was due to the connection that the two of us shared. We needed to hide in the city for as long as we could.

After the first night of us running for as long as we could, the SOG started stepping up patrols. We thought about staying with Mystake, but Harumi knew about her and we knew that wouldn't be a good idea. Borg was gone, so we couldn't ask him if he had any safe zone. There weren't any places in the city we could turn to that would keep us, since just talking to us would mean they became guilty. We were running for hours just finding a place, up until she finally stumbled upon an abandoned building with a large freezer. We squeezed the Samurai X Mech inside and made it our permanent base of operations for that entire first week.

The first thing we had to decide is if we were going to leave the city. It was mom and Pixal who suggested it, saying that if we mounted an offensive from outside, we might be able to better resist Garmadon. I told them I wouldn't do that, though. Harumi was still in the city, and if we left we could end up bringing Garmadon's wrath somewhere else. We were sometimes woken up just by the sound of the Colossus stomping around the city. Imagining that being brought somewhere like Jamankai village or Stiix was too much for us to think about.

Now, I want to address something here. While Garmadon and the SOG were claiming I was still alive, the last that the city saw of me was me crawling away from being nearly killed at Kryptarium. While Ultraviolet was off trying to hunt down anyone that could help me, she was also claiming that I, somehow, was still alive. However, most people didn't know if that was me being actually alive or not. I didn't even realize that might have been the case until Nya brought it up. There was a good chance that most people in the city thought I was truly gone.

I wanted to show the people right away that I was still alive. While they were hunting for me, mom said it was perhaps just a scare tactic. If we could break that grip of fear that Garmadon was keeping on everyone, that Harumi was keeping on everyone, I could help save more people. But Nya said that it wasn't a good idea. If I went out and made myself an image in my current state, I could end up getting people hurt, on top of me getting captured. She didn't want me to give hope to the people until I was strong enough to truly put up a resistance.

I was the one that suggested we call ourselves the resistance. I didn't want to have a big and fancy name, so I just decided on that. We were fugitives, and we were rebelling against Garmadon. Just like ninja, we would never quit. We were going to fight Harumi, and Garmadon. And that was what we were going to do above everything else. Even at the cost of our lives.

And… okay, since I've done this a few times and I'm sure Zane will have to correct this, I sometimes say 'my father' and sometimes I say 'Garmadon.' I don't know why I say that. I know before that I said he wasn't my father, and he isn't. But I can't help but say that when I do it. It's hard to look at him and not think of him that way. He looks like how I used to know my father before he became Sensei Garmadon. I'm going to try to have Zane edit these out, but if I do let some slip through, I'm not doing it intentionally. I don't view that… thing, Harumi brought back as my father.

Once we were hidden away, the first thing Nya said we needed to do was train me. We had to confirm that I'd lost my power. I knew that I had, but I could tell that Nya needed something to focus on. None of us were going to talk about what happened, not yet. So I agreed, and for almost five days straight, all I did was train. Nya and Pixal took turns coming at me with everything they had. They would fight me for hours, putting everything behind me that they possibly could. I would do everything I could to fight them, and bring my power back.

I think the reason that we did was so we didn't have to think about the fact that we thought our friends were gone. I didn't want to bring it up, since I knew that Nya had lost evne more than I had. I'd just lost my family. Nya had lost her brother and her boyfriend. Pixal had lost Zane too. I know it sounds weird, but I didn't want to make myself look even more pathetic by crying over it. I didn't want them to think that I was saying I was suffering more than them. I think that's just the sort of person I am, the more I think about it.

That doesn't mean I wasn't torn up about it. While I didn't let myself cry, I could sleep at all. When I did, I'd just start to have nightmares about it. And waking up to the sound of the Colossus moving around just made me think I was about to have to leave as soon as possible. Since I couldn't sleep, I couldn't fight. And since I couldn't fight, I just ended up feeling worse. That entire week was miserable for me… and I didn't have anyone to turn to about it that wasn't all pushing for me to grow stronger and help the city.

I know that they all meant well. Dareth was perhaps the one that I was thankful for being there the most. Dareth has always been someone that didn't have expectations of me. Or at least, someone that didn't always know what I was doing. He was someone that helped to ground me. I think he knew that we were all feeling down, and understandably so. And I know he was hurting seeing the ninja gone too. He'd been around since I became the Green Ninja. We were his friends. More than anything, he was there to help us. He was putting himself in harm's way just to help me. Knowing that, and then seeing him always trying to be supportive, gave me enough to keep going when I felt like I was going to quit. Yes, this another time that I'm saying Dareth deserves way more respect than he gets. If Dareth wasn't there, I would have lost. Again. That's just how Dareth is.

When I told Harumi I was going to fight her, I wasn't lying. But saying something and doing it are different. When I told that to her, I was doing it at that moment. I had just watched my friends die. But then having to spend each day hiding, trying to get my power back, while knowing that Harumi was finding anyone that could help me and rounding them up… it hurt. It hurt knowing that UV was running around and capturing people. (Ronin, how did you even get captured, you're smarter than that!) Harumi wanted me to go and try to confront her, and she was doing it by making the city I'd spent all this time protecting feel the pain of hiding me.

Each day just made me want to go out and tell everyone I was there to protect them more. But I couldn't even beat Nya and Pixal. I was able to stand up to them, but never beat them. Normally I could easily take them, but that was with my powers. Now, I was just a normal ninja. Someone that knew how to dodge attacks, was rusty with a sword, and didn't have anything to help me take down Garmadon. I was just a normal person with the ability to jump around and kick hard, at that point.

Dareth was the one that got us food, and he always came back when I was fighting. I could tell they all were worried about me. They wanted me to be stronger than I was. Even if I couldn't make my power, they needed me to be stronger. It reminded me of the feeling when I was on the Dark Island… which didn't help me. Having to remember that bit about my past just made it even worse knowing that I was going to have to face Garmadon like that. I didn't want to think about what Harumi had basically made completely invalid now. And again, me being upset led to me losing fights. And that just made them more worried about me. Again, it just kept looping around over and over the more that I kept doing it.

Nya would snap at me a few times. Normally it was her trying ot train me. But after Pixal snared me up after I finally managed to land a good hit on her mech, I couldn't break free. I gave up. I told her that I couldn't go and just get stronger like they needed me to. No matter how hard I kept trying, I'd just keep losing. And that was one of those times that Nya fully snapped at me. She reminded me about the fact that she'd lost things too, and that she wasn't going to quit. That we were going to lead this resistance, because we didn't have anything else. Our only option was to fight. And if we didn't, well, then what was the point of us living?

I really want to thank Nya, for being there for me. Like I've said before, I've always kinda considered her apart of the group, so when she became the water ninja I didn't think much had changed. But Nya was there for me, when nobody else was. Well, I mean other than Pixal and Dareth. I mean she was the one that was pushing me the hardest. She was the one making me think I could maybe do this. She was the one pushing me to keep going, even when I didn't think I could. I really appreciate that, I really do. And I just need her to know that, since after that first week, things started to happen really fast. Too fast for me to really point it out later.

After all those days of trying to find me didn't work out, though, Harumi sent Mr. E after us. He managed to find our hideout, and so we were forced to run. Knowing that we had to get going already just punched me all over again. But what hurt more was the fact that, as soon as e left, we were forced to run towards the docks where the Colossus had destroyed hte Bounty. The others kept going, but I saw the pictures we had framed there just spread over the ground with the rest of the ship. It hurt enough I couldn't keep going. I knew we were being chased, but I didn't care.

Seeing the ship just made me ask what the point of all this was. Without my friends, the ones that I'd fought for, and been by my side for the hardest moments of my life, what really was I going to do? Garmadon was already winning. We'd been hiding like rats, knowing that if we got caught it was all over. I couldn't leave the city or stay in it. The others wanted me to go on, but I couldn't. Seeing the ship just… it just broke me in a way that I didn't want to say. I felt like giving up. And, if I hadn't found that tea leaf… I might have.

Now, I know I said that Mystake gave the others Travler's Tea. And, again, I'm not mad at her for not telling me. For one, we couldn't even find her for all that time. And I don't know if she was certain they would use it in time. She'd given them the key, but she wasn't around to tell me that. Maybe if I'd gone the entire time not knowing if they were alive, I'd be more angry. But I'd learned they were okay, and I had the chance to see them again. There was a chance that they were still alive. The fact that only half the Bounty was there, the more we looked, meant they hadn't been fully crushed. Wherever they were… we had hope.

Of course, it isn't like I was allowed to be happy for long. We spent too long there, and Mr. E showed up with the Mask of Vengeance and the entire SOG he had on hand. We were surrounded, and didn't have any chance of escape. Dareth was willing to stand up to Mr. E, and said he was prepared to give his life for me. Again… Dareth deserves more credit. And if the Elemental Masters hadn't shown up, he would have given his life for me.

We'd considered trying to contact the Masters before that, but we both didn't have a way to, and we didn't know if they would even come. Part of me thought if I did call them, it would just make UV go on that weird game show thing of hers to track them down. Karlof, Shade and Turner showed up to save us. I don't think I'd be able to ask for a better sign than that moment. Not only were my friends still alive, possibly, but we had allies there to help us, and ones that were able to help get us away. On top of that, Skylor finally showed p after having disappeared for a long time. We thought she'd maybe gotten captured. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Now that we had allies, we had a chance. We fled on a garbage truck and made our way to the rest of the Masters. The ninja were gone, but I knew that I couldn't give up the fight just yet. I had allies, and not everything was hopeless. The Resistance had just grown to be a lot bigger than the ones the ninja had left behind. We were going to stand up to my father.

No matter what happened, the Resistance Never Quits. We were going to make sure all of Ninjago City knew it.

* * *

"Okay, I know that's not a lot, but that's good for me," Lloyd stretched his back out, "Did I do a good job?"

Nya nodded her head at him, "Course you did. You were there. It's your book, write it like you want."

"Yeah, but I don't want to like, make it seem like I'm leaving out details," Lloyd shrugged, "All we did that entire week was just train how to fight."

"And I think it paid off," Nya informed him, "You grew stronger because of it, Lloyd. You grew stronger because of all of this. Don't forget that."

"I won't, Nya," Lloyd smiled, "I'm… past the big parts I didn't want to talk about now. I know I knd put those all on Jay, but, I'm going to be okay now. You know?"

"I mean, you did scare Jay for a bit there," Nya shrugged, "But I trust you. If you say you're going to be okay, you will be. You told the others this too, right?"

"Kinda… wait, how do you know?" Lloyd blinked.

"Kai warned me," Nya told him, "But I know it's going to be fine. I did want to ask, though: are you going to talk about the others?"

"You mean what they were doing in the First Realm?" Lloyd paused, "I mean, maybe. Only if I have to. They don't really come in until the end and… well. I wasn't involved in it. Like, when I did the Morro stuff I had to but, now I don't have to. You know?"

"Works for me," Nya told him, "Is that all? I was going to go help out some people down in the city."

"Doing what?" Lloyd asked her.

"The city is still rebuilding from the colossus, and a lot of people had their homes get crushed," Nya stood up, "The Commissioner asked if some of us could go and help out. There's a group that's helping gather supplies and helping out the construction crews. They're kinda overworked. Plus we do some other smaller stuff."

"Wait, really?!" Lloyd leapt up to his feet, "Can I help?"

"...Uh," Nya blinked at his sudden emotion, "Sure, we can always use help. But don't be surprised if you get recognized. You're pretty famous now."

"That's fine," Lloyd shook his head, "I just want to help out the city. I'll do anything!"

"Alright, alright," Nya nodded, "Well, I'm getting ready to leave soon. Get changed and we'll get going here soon."

"On it!" Lloyd was already rushing out of the room to go and get changed. Nya blinked for a moment, then rolled her eyes playfully and left the room to follow after him.


	43. The First Defiant Steps

Now that we had allies, it was time for us to truly start working on the Resistance. It was time for us to finally help the people that I'd let down. It was time for me to be the Green Ninja once again.

Apparently, the Masters had been waiting for all of them to get there to go and find me. It turns out we hid ourselves well enough that they weren't able to find me anymore than we could them. They'd turned a garbage depot into a hidden base, and I admit it's a very good one. It was big enough to hold whatever they needed, and was also closer to the center of the city without looking suspicious. It gave us all we needed to start truly looking for a way to make an offensive.

Not all the Masters showed up, though. I'm not sure where Chamille, Gravis, Jacob or Bolobo were. Well, Karlof said that Chamille had gone rogue, and knowing that she'd been the one to fight me and refuse to ally with me during the Tournament, that made sense. I'm not sure why only some of them came, though. I mean, I'm not complaining. But what exactly made it so Neuro, Tox and Paleman could come but not Gravis? It's like when a toyline just randomly doesn't include characters from something even if there's no reason to, even if you ask for them for years and they still ignore you. ..Erm, Jay's words, not mine.

It turns out that Mystake had been the one to tell them where we were to come and save them. Having her show up was a rather odd feeling, but now it makes a lot of sense. It's clear she was using her Oni abilities to find us, and after that just sent the Masters our way. She didn't want us to know that she could shapeshift, since it likely wasn't time for us to know. She would show us, but that was later. Right now, she was just a random fly on the wall that had showed up to come and help us. And we were grateful to have all the help we could get.

Speaking of help, I don't know why, but I had to ask if Skylor's powers were back. I'd heard from her that something was up with them while I was out looking for Wu and helping the city, but hadn't thought much about it. She told me that they did, and that I would likely get mine back. It was nice to hear… even if, it was really awkward for me to ask. And, kinda weird that they just disappeared. I mean, I don't know why. Does that mean an elemental master will lose their powers if all they do is just, not use them? I don't know… I kinda hope not.

Either way, that wasn't to say I was all happy. Tox pointed out that even if we had people there to help, the Colossus was still out there. We were basically ants to it, and we weren't exactly equipped to go and attack my father just yet. We had evaded capture, but hadn't done anything to really strike the SOG down. Nya said she wanted to build something out of all the metal they had at the depot, and I wasn't going to stop her. But I was more worried about the long term, since now I had the chance to actually see it.

That was when mystake took me aside and told me that we needed to talk. Since I knew she'd been the one to send my friends off, and she even admitted it to us to our faces, I wanted ot know more about her. She took me up to a small office in the building, and we had our first conversation together. Well, by first I mean the first one that wasn't just her telling us about the First Realm. The first one we had when we were in the middle of the resistance, I mean!

A lot of what she said to me makes a lot more sense now that I know what she is. She seemed wise, but I think she just knew a lot. She had to have been around since the formation of Ninjago, and even joked that she got her name because she kept making Mistakes. While she confirmed that my friends were still alive, that didn't mean anything if we couldn't get to them. While she'd sent them off to the First Realm with that tea, she hadn't given them a way back. They'd need to get to that on the other side, and they'd 'passed out of sight' for her too.

Now that I think about it, I think Mystake had this planned from the start. The moment she saw us step into her shop to ask her about the Oni Masks, she was forming this plan. She knew that we would need more than just our own powers to stop them. If Harumi was going to bring him back using the masks, we wouldn't be able to fight him. So she guided us so that my friends would go to the First Realm and get what they needed to help defeat my father. It was effective… but I think it was a little underhanded. She didn't tell us anything, and again, she did leave me to think they were dead. I don't blame her, since she said she couldn't see them anymore. But she was putting herself to look like someone more important than she really was.

I think that's part of why I never can really say what I think about her. She was holding back so much of what she could have told me. She only let me know things when I had to. But I think that was partially because, again, she was an Oni. She wanted to hide her identity, and hide the fact she wasn't human. She didn't know if she could trust us, or if we could handle the information. The only reason that she showed u sin the first place was because she had to. But even then, she didn't seem that upset about it. She just seemed like she was a bit inconvenienced by having to tell us, and that was it. But maybe I'm just reading into this.

Or, maybe I'm not? Like I said, I didn't know her that well. And, well… you'll know later,b ut I don't have the chance to really talk to her now. I don't know what's going on with her. I appreciate her help and I know I wouldn't be around if she wasn't there to help me. But I also can't say that I understand her, or even that I really get her. She was a mysterious woman that helped me, but other than that… she wasn't willing to open up more than she needed to. She even said she wasn't wise like Wu, just more versed in making mistakes. Which… the more I think about it, that makes me a little sad to say it.

But that wasn't why I was talking to her. It was time for me to step up and lead the Resistance. We couldn't just hide and expect my father to go down. But, that also was a problem. We had to do something so we could finally make the SOG stand down from us. We needed to make a statement, and be able to show the SOG what for at the same time. And, thankfully, we had the chance to do that with everyone's help now.

Okay, so, I'll b e honest here: it wasn't my initial idea to take back the airwaves. I mean, I know I said it was my plan, and it was, but it was Mystake who put that in my head as something we had to do. But more than that, she had to show me something important about what this fight was going to be about. She asked Karlof to come and help me train. I was ready to go up against him (even if I knew it would hurt), but instead, Mystake said it would be Dareth that was going to fight him.

Of course, as much as I love Dareth, and I still thank him for everything he's done for us, he isn't exactly… on our level. Like, I know he knows a decent amount of martial arts, he was teaching a class, but we've been fighting for so long and… even I couldn't go up against someone that was made of metal like that. But thanks to Dareth, I knew that I could help him do that. And so I did. I tried to coach him, tell him how to fight, and I think if I was able to put him against someone like Shade, I'd be able to help him win. But he lost, of course. Even if he did say that he wanted ot keep fighting, I had gotten into it. I told him that I couldn't fight his battles for him, he had to stand up for himself. And that was when it hit me.

Mystake said I needed ot find my voice. Now, normally me giving a big speech isn't an issue. But this was more than me just rallying my ninja. This was me, getting ready to go and talk to the entire city and save them. I was going to have to be the face of a Resistance. I couldn't just be someone that committed halfway to my ideals. I had to go and be the person that the city needed. I wasn't going ot fight my father. I was going to inspire others to stand up and fight with us.

Now, that wasn't something I found right away. We had to get to Ultraviolet first. I should note, I still can't believe the Mailman actually escaped capture for so long. I guess he's so used to chasing us for letters that he became just as skilled as we were. Well, either way, we were going to have to fight for that tower, and it was, of course, right under my father. We couldn't just waltz in, and so we made our plan. We were going to sneak into that tower and buy whatever time we could to save the city from the grasp of Garmadon.

I remember sneaking into the tower was relatively straightforward and according to plan, up until we got to the 81st floor. It was there that we ended up running into the one man that we didn't want to: Garmadon. Apparently, he could sense me, and tell that I was in the building. I think that should have been my first hint of what was going on with my powers, but we were more concerned with the fact we were in the building, with Garmadon.

I pushed Skylor to try something brand new, and I think it worked out really well. I had her combine the powers of light and shadow so we could vanish right in front of his eyes, but also not leave a trace of where we were. I have to give it to Skylor, her ability is incredibly helpful, and we couldn't have done a lot of what we did without her. Garmadon came right up to us, so close I could see his teeth. He wasn't the man I remembered, and he only felt stronger. The more time he spent in power, the more it felt like he really was the Emperor of the city. It was a feeling that reminded me that, at the end of the day, we were fighting to save the city from him… and it wasn't going to be easy.

Once we got into the studio and took control of the airwaves, Skylor told me we'd only have a few minutes before they came back to try to get us. Once we started, I couldn't waste this chance. It's probably this point I should mention that I hadn't figured out what I was going ot say to the city at all, but I knew we didn't have time to think about it. I told them to go live.

Looking back over that recording, I realize that it's clear I wasn't sure oof what I was saying at first. When I started, I was doing what I always did. The things I always told the ninja. Telling everyone I was there, that we had to stand up to fight… well, not that exactly, but you know what I mean. I don't remember the speech well, not the first bit, at least. I was just talking. Talking like I always did. I was trying to do what I did with the ninja. To say that I would be the one to be strong, and everyone had to fight beside me.

I know none of you saw it, but Harumi hacked into the room we were using to show me the broadcast of me being beaten by my father. I wanted to keep going, but I knew that I couldn't put my passion behind me words. I couldn't say that I was powerful, if I was watching that. And I stopped talking. I could see everyone in the room look at me like I'd just given up. And I knew that, in some fashion, I had. I couldn't say we were strong, when I was the one at the head of the Resistance… and I was the weakest link.

Then I saw the pictures of everyone on the floor. I know it sounds silly to say, but when I did… I remembered that we didn't always save the day ourselve.s Sure, we would fight and do the last strike, but that didn't mean we were always the one that did every step of the work. We always had people that helped us. The Masters helped us take down Chen. Ronin was there to save me during Stiix. And even now, Mystake had stepped us to help me. People were going to stand beside me. But they weren't standing beside me because Iw as strong. THey did it because they had somethign to fight for. They had to fight their own battle. I wasn't going to lead them by making the step into battle. I was going ot rally them to fight with us, not behind us. That's when I realized why Mystake said I had to find my voice. I had to show them what it would take to fight with us.

And after that, the words I said just came naturally. I felt like I was giving any other speech again. And I think it worked. I ended it with the motto of the REsistance, just because it made sense to. It was a spur of the moment thing, and I didn't even mean to make the chest-thing an actual sign. But I did, and I'm proud of myself for doing that. I had shown the people they didn't have to be afraid of me. I showed everyone I could do what they needed, by helping them do what they needed. I was going to be the Green Ninja. I was going ot lead th REsistance.

Skylor left that last line of mine on loop while we got away. The only regret that I have in all of this, was that we didn't get away fast enough. The only way what happened to us afterwards would have gone down, was if they had seen us leaving in the trucks that we used to get away. We must have been just slow enough they managed to get to us. Killow was there, and Harumi still had the mask. We weren't going to fight them directly yet. Even if we had a voice, we weren't ready yet to show them what we could do. Not until we were stronger.

But I know that what I did was enough. I'd shown the city I was alive, and finally given them hope. Harumi could try to beat me down, but I was still around. The one that got away will always be your greatest enemy, and that was what I was making myself into. With Nya, mom, Pixal, the Masters and Mystake with me, I'd power through. I didn't have my friends, the Bounty, or even my powers, but that didn't matter. I was through with living in the shadows.

We'd taken our first steps to defy my father, and now, it was time to stand up to whatever he threw at us. Even if it was going ot cost us more than we were prepared for.

* * *

"W-Woah…" Lloyd huffed as he collapsed against the side of a nearby building, "That's… that was.. That was a lot."

Nya, similarly sweating and panting rather heavily herself, walked up to him with a bottle of water in hand. She sat down beside him far more gracefully, popping the lid off a canteen she had on her hip and taking a long swig from it. Lloyd was quick to down a fourth of the bottle he was given on the spot.

"Told you to bring a water bottle," Nya stretched her back out, "It's a lot of work."

"Didn't think… we'd be moving… such big pieces of rubble…" Lloyd groaned, "Those things were huge!"

Nya grimaced, "Yeah… normally we just help out at shelters and run errands for people. But, well, with all those Oni guys coming around the construction stuff got kinda, sidetracked. I promise you won't have to do that again."

"Ugh…" Lloyd raised his arms, "I feel like I just turned into jelly."

"Hey, you lifted a lot!" Nya thumped his shoulder, "All those weight lifting sessions with Cole are paying off for you, huh?"

"Guess so…" Lloyd let his arms drop, "Right now I don't think I want them to."

The two looked at each other, then shared a small laugh together. The sun had already set for the day, meaning that the alley they were in was more or less completely dark. A nearby streetlamp was all that let them see anything. Nya put her canteen back on her hip and stretched her arms out, popping her joints. After a bit to let them relax, Nya turned to Lloyd and smiled.

"I'm glad you came to help out, though," Nya brought her legs up to her chest, "Every hand helps. If we keep this up, the construction guys can get their jobs done even faster."

"I just wish I'd known about this sooner…" Lloyd admitted, "I need to give back to the city more after I let it down like that."

Nya's smile dropped into a bit of a frown, "Lloyd, you don't owe the city anything. You can help out just because you want to, you know."

"I'm the reason it got wrecked… I really should've asked the Commissioner if I could've done more," Lloyd sighed, "The fact that I only started helping now is-"

"The fact you're helping at all is already enough," Nya cut him off, "Lloyd, you saved the city. You stopped Harumi and you helped stop the Oni. That's more than enough. Wanting to help out is great, but you don't have to feel obligated to. You can want to help out just because you want to help."

"I guess…" Lloyd shook his head, "But these people lost their homes. And then the Oni came, and it's just messed it all up. I feel like, I failed the city. More than once. You were there, Nya. You know that I could've done more."

"You did what you could," Nya reached out to grip his hand, "And that's all you can do. You stood up after Harumi tried to hurt you as much as she could. The fact you even helped save the city in the first place is more than enough. You've made up for your mistakes by helping to save people that would've gotten hurt if you didn't help them. That's all anyone can ask of you."

"Are… you sure?" Lloyd asked her.

"Positive," Nya slowly stretched and rocked onto her heels to squat back up, "Now come on. We normally all chip in to get dinner, and I'm sure you're hungry."

"Yeah, I am," Lloyd stood up along with Nya. Lloyd soon walked his way out of the alley, stretching and popping his joints as he did. Nya watched him walk away with a small smile on her face, a few twinges of worry fading as she went to join him after a hard day's work of helping the city.


	44. The Price for Defiance

Harumi wasn't about to let us get away with showing the city I was alive easily. We had barely gotten back to the depot before she'd sent what felt like the entire SOG to come and capture us.

When we got back, we took a moment to celebrate and discuss what was about to come next. Our next step was clear: we had to find someone that could stand up to my father. We needed an army. With Ultraviolet hunting down my friends, though, that was harder to pull off than I thought. We spent hours trying to figure something out, find someone who could help us. With how persistent UV was, though, that was a bit of a problem.

While I'm a bit upset that I was willing to celebrate after that victory we had, it wasn't like we knew something was coming. We were trying to plan our next move, no matter what. Harumi had seen us leave, though, and she'd followed us all the way to the garbage depot, or at least that's what I think had to happen. She must have gone back to Garmadon to try to get everyone together to come and attack us. After how we'd basically humiliated her and UV, we should have expected a bit more of a counterattack. While we did know we'd just started something a lot bigger than just ourselves, we weren't ready for how fast it came.

Now, Dareth was outside when the SOG came to attack. He said it had something to do with Mystake giving him something to make him have brown power… I don't really know why she would do that for him. But I do know that the fact he was outside meant that we weren't ambushed and taken out immediately. Dareth ran in and bought us a few seconds, just enough for us to get ready to fight when they came for us. Even if he did keep talking about having to go to the bathroom. Again, another moment that Dareth saved us. Even if it was weird.

Harumi didn't spare anything when she came for us. She, UV and Killow all showed up. I'm not sure where Mr. E was… and come to think of it, I never did see him again after he came to find us in the first place we were hiding in. And… I never did see him in Kryptarium, either. I'm not sure what happened to him. I… well, I guess… I don't want to think about that. Anyways…

The attack was so fast that we didn't have time to really mount any defense. It was every man for themselves the second that they landed inside the depot. The Masters put up a good fight, and even mom got involved. Pixal got in her mech and defended us. We were able to put up enough of a fight to keep going. When they all came for us, I told everyone we couldn't lose this fight. We had to stand up to him. We couldn't let Harumi take us alive like this. If we couldn't resist just the SOG, we'd have no chance of fighting my father.

That changed when Killow and Harumi showed up, though. As much as I never really dealt with the Oni Mask of Deception, it was strong enough to take down both Turner, Shade and Paleman. UV went right for mom, and Harumi, of course, was there to try to attack me. She ordered them to me alive. I was fighting just to survive. I couldn't let Ninjago fall because we couldn't make our stand here. We had to keep a base if we wanted to help the people.

I probably would have stayed and fought, if Nya hadn't dragged me away. Skylor was the one that saved me from the massive group of people that tried to take me. Without my power, I was just a normal person. I could usually use my power to stop groups of enemies, but now… I really was weak. I was the weakest link on our Resistance. I was weak enough that Nya had to grab me and drag me all the way to the car she built. Skylor bought us enough time to get it started and start fleeing. We picked up Skylor and Dareth, while the others stayed behind to fight. I watched mom get swarmed and captured in front of me, and Pixal was forced to flee at some point as her mech got overwhelmed. Everyone that was fighting for me, was getting captured.

As Nya drove the four of us out, I kept demanding we go back. She, however, said that her priority wasn't them, but me. I'd put myself as the face of the Resistance. If I was caught, it was all over. The further we drove into the city, the more that I knew we'd failed. I hadn't been strong enough, and now I was being made to flee as my punishment.

Skylor and Dareth worked together to get the SOG that were tailing us off our backs. We thought we were in the clear, but Dareth told us we weren't. Garmadon had left the tower and had come to attack us. Nya's car was fast and strong, and it was about the best possible thing we could have used to escape. But that meant nothing when we felt a strange feeling of cold come over us. It was only a moment after that, we heard the Colossus come for us.

I've never felt smaller in my life, than when I was facing that Colossus. That thing was massive, and it was out to crush me. It felt like my father's body, just projected out into this massive thing. It was able to run faster than we could drive. Just feeling it take a step was like sitting in an earthquake. Feeling that thing coming after us was one of the most terrifying moments in a battle for me. That thing wasn't going to stop. Garmadon wanted me dead… and he had the thing to do.

The Colossus managed to get in front of us, and before we could get away, it crushed us under its foot. The second that it did, I knew it was over. That thing was going to crush us, and that would be it. I was going to die, and that was just… it. I thought I would have been scared. I thought maybe I'd have panicked like Dareth did, or tried to fight it like Nya and Skylor. But… instead, as I heard the ceiling start to collapse and the entire car start to bend in… I just felt numb. I felt numb, and I didn't know why. The harder that the thing pushed… the more numb I felt. I wasn't able to focus on what the others were doing. I felt something… something inside me, that I didn't understand. I was feeling what Garmadon was feeling.

The two of us were connected, and that was the first time I felt him. I could sense the fact I wasn't the one that felt numb, but he was. I was feeling what Harumi meant when she said he wouldn't be the man I recognized. At first, I just felt nothing. He really didn't feel anything. He was just some beast, out to get me. But, the more that the Colossus crushed us, I started feeling something else. I felt him hesitate. I could feel him trying to crush us, but he, for some reason, couldn't.

I don't know how, but I think I reached him. I asked him not to do this. I asked my father not to do this to me. I know I said I don't view him as my father. I don't. But I felt him hesitating trying to kill me. And I realized that I could use that. I could make him stop. I could reach my father, just like he had hurt me. And that, was what bought us enough time for us to get free.

I'm not sure if it was me, or something else that made him stop. But he let us go. My father, the one that had been trying to hunt me down, couldn't strike the final blow. That was a feeling that I didn't understand. I didn't know why he couldn't. But I saw him, before we fully drove away. There was smoke behind him, from something. He was looking down at me. Somehow, I could see him perfectly. Just like I think he could see me. As we fled, we both seemed to understand something. We knew that both of us were far more than just enemies.

I didn't tell NYa about this, not at first. We were too busy trying to flee. Nya drove us all the way to the docks, and told us we had to hide. We ditched the Battle Wagon, as she called it later, and just kept going. Skylor and Dareth split up, and we agreed to meet in the lower areas of the city. The SOG were on full alert looking for us. We learned from the news that they'd managed to get all of the Masters, Pixal, mom… everyone. The only ones of us that were left, were me, Nya, Dareth and Skylor. We'd paid the price for defying my father.

Having our forces go almost right back to the start was about as hard a blow as Harumi could deal to us. I know why she was so quick to make sure everyone saw it. I'd shown my face, now she was showing the people there was a price for showing it. While people were willing to help us, we couldn't count on anyone. We wanted an army, and now we didn't even have our allies. I was back to square one… and it was even more bleak than the last time.

Nya told me I couldn't give up, but I wasn't in the mood to hear it. We had to disguise ourselves and, more importantly, Nya said I had to burn my clothes. Given that we were now fugitives and Harumi was looking for us, showing my colors would get us spotted. She'd gotten rid of the car, now I had to get rid of my robes. I know that I get new robes all the time, so it wasn't really burning those specifically that hurt, but it felt like I was burning away the Green Ninja. It was like having to admit I'd failed, again. I'd had maybe a few hours of victory, and now I was defeated all over again. And the fact I wasn't the one that paid the price made it worse.

Our plan at first was to just keep moving around the city until we could find a new base. I wasn't really into the idea of it. If we did, it would just get found. If we tried to work with the people, we'd get them caught. The fact Skylor was still the CEO of Chen's Noodle House meant we could get food, but not help. As grateful as I was to Dareth and Skylor for staying by my side, I was about ready to give up again. Or at least, not ready to start moving on. And I probably would have, if Mystake hadn't shown back up as a rat.

I have to say it, watching a rat stand up on two legs and talk really was unnerving. Mystake transformed back to her normal self right in front of us, meaning we couldn't deny it was her. She said it was time for us to figure out who she really was, and after seeing that, we couldn't just ignore it anymore. It was time for us to figure out that she was an Oni.

Once I knew what she was, it was pretty easy to put the pieces together. She'd come with the Oni that came after the FSM, and after that she'd turned on them when she fell in love with the realm that he'd created. Because of this, she'd been around to help the FSM ever since the world was created. On top of that, the reason why Wu and Garmadon lived so long was because they were part Oni. Dareth pointed out that the Oni were ones that were destroyed, and Mystake joked we wouldn't want her on our bad side. I know she liked to mess with us, but the way she said it actually sounded like a threat.

While we talked, I asked her if I could transform like she could. She told me that I'd been doing it my whole life. The way she said it was somewhat silly, but it was true. I'd been growing and changing more than anyone I knew. I'd gone from a kid too stupid enough to realize opening the Tombs was a bad idea, to growing into the Green Ninja and stopping threat after threat to Ninjago. Now, I was going to have to become something even more. While having Mystake with us now, fully revealed about who she was, wasn't exactly something that gave us a massive boost in power, it showed me that there was more to us than we knew. We each could do more than we already were doing. And so when Harumi came hunting for us, I knew we could do more than what we were doing. We could do more than just run.

I was sick of running. After being pursued to the ends of Ninjago, taken down by Harumi, humiliated, beaten and likely putting the city in fear again after hearing about what happened to the Resistance, I wasn't ready to just let Harumi get away with this again. When I saw her and Killow coming after us, I knew that if we ran, we'd just end up where we started. But if we did something to fight, we'd gain the upper hand. I had a plan. A plan I would never have guessed would turn out the way that it did.

With Mystake's power to shapeshift, I had her turn into a version of me and go to distract Harumi. Meanwhile, Skylor and Nya went and split up HArumi's forces. Nya managed to take Killow down a canal, and being the Master of Water, he didn't stand a chance. Skylor's copied powers let her take the rest of them down. The fact they were willing to come after me, and me alone, was our advantage. An enemy that looks only for one outcome, will often miss the obvious. So when Harumi found herself without anyone to help her, we had an opportunity on our hands.

When we cornered Harumi, I knew that this was it. This was my chance. I hid until Harumi came around the corner and revealed myself. I told her those that don't change often fail to move forward. Or, something like that, it was a heat of the moment sort of line. She called me a beggar in rags, someone that had changed for the worse. Just seeing her like that again, made me angry. I felt that same anger that I'd felt when she'd first betrayed me. But, more than that, I didn't feel crippled. I was upset, angry… but I wasn't letting those feelings get to me. I was stronger than Harumi. I was going to be stronger than her. I'd told her that she couldn't break me like she let herself be broken. Now was my chance to show it to her.

Without her friends, and with all five of us together, we captured her. Holding her down so we could tie her up was like trying to grab onto a wild animal. I'd never heard someone scream and snap like she did. It was like the act of us touching her disgusted her. We had to gag her because she was shouting so much, it could alert someone. We had Harumi in our hands, the one person in the city that Garmadon was closest to. We had our shot at getting back at them.

We'd paid the price for defiance, but now we were making Garmadon pay as well. We had the person that would be the key to us finally hatching a plan to take down my father. We had the key to actually, finally, showing my father what I could do. The chance… to truly put up a Resistance.

...I just wish I knew what that plan was going to cost me… and Harumi.

* * *

"I wanna stop there," Lloyd frowned, "...I need to get myself ready to talk about what comes next."

"Alright," Nya leaned forward, planting her chin on one of her hands, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lloyd nodded, "I… just don't want to talk about all of that yet. I need to save all that for… for the next chapter."

"Right, next time is when we tried to take the Colossus," Nya frowned, "...Lloyd, are you sure you can talk about that?"

"I'm sure I can," Lloyd nodded, "I have to. And… I've already spent, too long being angry at Harumi with everything I've talked about. I need to… I need to actually talk about this. It's the last thing that really makes it so talking about her is… hard."

"Alright, well," Nya stretched, "Look, if you need to take some time to think about it, just let me know. You've been doing a lot of these lately."

"I wanna get through everything," Lloyd insisted, "I want to make sure I finish this. I've spent a long time making this. I want to finish it out. And, I think if I stop now, I won't finish it. It's a hurdle I have to overcome… and, thanks, for doing this."

"You don't even have to say it," Nya popped her neck, "But I'll make sure I remember you owe me a favor for this."

"Wait, really?" Lloyd blinked. Nya smirked, then chuckled.

"Of course not, Lloyd," Nya shook her head, "You know I'd do this for you no matter what. You sure this is all you want to say about this, though? I'd thought you'd have more to say about how Harumi took the Masters away from us."

"It all happened so fast… it felt really bad in the moment but, now that I'm actually talking about it… well," Lloyd shook her head, "I don't think I have more to say. It's… not this part that's important. I mean, it was but, not in that way. You know?"

"Yeah, I get ya," Nya shook her head, "I just heard from the guys you could go on long rants. I haven't heard you go on one yet, though. Maybe you'd gotten past those?"

"Maybe," Lloyd shook his head, standing up from the chair, "I'm gonna go get ready for training. I promised Kai I'd help him with a new Spinjitzu trick."

"Good luck," Nya rolled her yes, "My brother may know how to fight, but he isn't really good at coming up with, 'new moves,'" She held up her hands in air quotes, "The last one he tried nearly burned down the Bounty."

"I'll make sure to have Zane nearby then," Lloyd smiled. He made his way out of the room. Nya gave a long look towards the chair he'd sat in, then slowly looked down and stood up. She gave a small sigh, then left along with him. The next chapter was going to be a lot… and not just for him.


	45. What I Took From Her

...I don't want to talk about this.

I know that I shouldn't say that. I lost my father by having to banish him. I've watched my friends die in front of me. I've gone through things that no kid should ever have to. I know that of everything that there is for me not to want to talk about, this shouldn't be it. Even now, I've gone back and seen my previous chapters, haven't conveyed that I'm that upset about this. I know I shouldn't be feeling this angry, and this upset, just thinking about it. Not after what happened to me already. This shouldn't have the impact it does on me.

I know when you read this book, it makes it seem like I just went right into talking about this. But, I don't do that. It usually takes me a few days to really get together what I want to say about each thing in my chapters. Even if the last ones have been so, short. I've thought about trying to say more, maybe stretch it all out and, have more to say. But when I try, I don't have much to think about. I can't really stretch this out without, making it feel cheap. I don't want this book to just be longer so I can have more pages. I want to say what I feel. And I think, maybe the reason why it's been short, is because everything that I've thought about, is really all wrapped up around this. Maybe the reason why is because everything was always about Harumi.

...I don't want to be angry. I don't want to sit here and feel like this. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't. I shouldn't. It's so selfish of me to be angry. I'm a horrible person for being so, so angry. Because you all know what happened. The news made it clear when it was all over. I told them what happened, since I was the only one that saw it happen with my own eyes. It's my fault. All of this is my fault. She took everything from me, and I never meant to do the same to her. But… I did.

I killed Harumi.

I killed her. I killed the girl that twisted my heart around her hand and then ripped it out of me. The one that made me think she was a good person, who smiled and played up an act to make me smile. The one that I fell for, without meaning to. The… the one who hurt me when she showed me her true colors, and betrayed everything I thought I knew about her.

She resurrected my father in front of me as a shell of who he once was. She took away everything I loved about him. The man that was willing to die for me, who helped me with Chen, the Golden Master, and the one who tried to repel evil itself to save me. All of that love… all of the times that he fought against his own nature to try to rescue me, it was all gone. She brought him back the way she did, because she wanted to hurt me.

She took away my city from me. She didn't just take it, she put Garmadon on the throne and then turned it into his empire. She hunted me down, captured my friends, isolated me and murdered my friends so I had to feel alone. She wanted me down in the dirt, broken like she was. And she almost did it. She hurt me with that, in a way I can't describe.

She makes me angry. She makes me want to hit something. I don't know why I'm so angry. I'm so angry at her. This entire time I've been doing everything not to be angry at her. I've been doing everything I can! But she deserves it! She hurt me. She took all that way from me! All of this! She did all of this! All of it! Why, why should I… why should I, why should I forgive her for that!? Why?! She, she hurt me! She murdered my friends, she… she ripped my father away from me! She took over my city, captured people, probably tortured them, all of this for me! She tried to torture me! Over and over again!

I know I did this! I know that of everything, I'm the reason this happened! I was the stupid, stupidk id! I went and let Pythor out! I let him out! It's my fault, I know that! I KNOW that! There isn't a night that goes by I don't know that everything that happened to this city, was because of me. I was the one that let the Serpentine out, who then let out the Devourer, and then the Stone Army, the Overlord, the Golden Master! All of it was my fault! It's mine, and mine alone1 But that shouldn't, that shouldn't mean I can't be angry at her! I can still be upset I can feel angry at her, right?1 Right?!

And so what if it was destiny, hrmm?! She shouldn't have done that! She shouldn't have hurt me, or tried to rip my life away from me. Maybe this wasn't my fault, I don't know! My entire life is all like this! I never know what I should be responsible for! Should I feel guilty about STiix, since Morro was using my body?! What about the Twins, they nearly took over and I didnt' even get to stop them! Oh, and the SOG! What, do I feel angry at them too?! What do I get angry at, if not Harumi?! Am I supposed to be angry at her?!

I took everything from her, but she deserved it, didn't she?! She, she didn't even try to apologize. She, she looked at me when it happened, I knew she understood! She, she had to have known this could happen! She tried to rip my father away from me, surely she knew! She, she had to have known! This, maybe this was just to mess me up more! Just one last little trick to make me never get over her! It would make sense, wouldn't it?! She just wanted to make sure I suffered in the end!

No, Nya, I'm not done! I'm not done! I can't be done! I can't get her out of my head! Maybe I'm angry because of that? Maybe I'm just using anger to hide everything, I don't know! I probably did that before! I nearly blew up this room trying to talk about my dad! But then, why didn't I get this angry over my dad?! Why?! He meant more to me than she did! He was there for everything, he was the one that wanted me to be happy! He loved me! He wanted everything with me, didn't he?! He wanted me to be, be more than just beholden to fate, or destiny, or whatever! He wanted that for me! And she took him away from me! She took him AWAY!

SHE DID THIS TO ME! THIS HAS TO BE HER PLAN, ISN'T IT?! TO MAKE ME UPSET, AND ANGRY, AND JUST TO SUFFER, RIGHT?! ONE LAST TRICK! ONE LAST LITTLE THING! SHE DID IT TO MY DAD, TO THE NINJA, TO ME, SURELY SHE HAD TO HAVE DONE THIS TO HERSELF! THIS WASN'T MY FAULT, WASN'T IT?! SHE PLANNED THIS! SHE PLANNED THIS, DIDN'T SHE!

THIS ISN'T MY FAULT, ISN'T IT?!

THIS ISN'T MY FAULT!

THIS! ISN'T! MY! FAULT!

...

It isn't my fault.

It… it isn't…

I didn't…

I…

….

….

… Harumi… I didn't mean to…

I didn't mean to do this, I didn't. I didn't want you to…

I never wanted you to die…

Why did you have to die? Why? Why were you up there? You shouldn't have been. We were fighting Garmadon, not you. You shouldn't have… you should've been there with Garmadon, not with… not… Why? Why were you there? It was my stupid plan, it was my… I did it. I just. I didn't think you'd… I never thought… Skylor was poisoned and I couldn't help. I had to… I had to finish it through, we couldn't keep taking control…

I hate you, I know I hate you. You made me hate you. But I didn't want you to die. I never wanted this. I never wanted that. I didn't want to… not like this. Not like this. Not… not like…

I've tried for so long to tell myself I wasn't the one who did it. I know that you being there, was some sort of decision. It isn't right of me to try to act like, you did this to hurt me. It was just, a coincidence, wasn't it? You never meant to be there. I get it. It's… it's horrible of me to even think that. I shouldn't act like you were just trying to hurt me. That's just wrong. It's so wrong. I'm horrible.

I never thought, the Devourer would… I never knew. I was so focused on helping the others stop it, I just assumed that… that everyone was okay. We 're the ninja. We save people, right? How could we mess up and not save you? We couldn't have just, let you go like that. You had to have been safe. While you were suffering, I was training to be the Green Ninja. You watched your parents leave you behind while… while I was making jokes and beating the Ninja up at Dareth's Dojo. You… you suffered, while I never even thought about it.

Being angry hurts, Harumi. It hurts to be angry this long. How… how were you able to live your life like this? It's like all the joy, just vanishes, like this. You can't feel happiness like you should. You see everyone around you, so happy and, so free, but you just aren't like that. You spent your entire life in that palace, just like this. How… how were you able to suffer like this? How could you be the Quiet One?

I can't, I can't help this feeling. I can't. I can't help it. I really just… I just can't. I know it. I hurt you badly. I really did. You… you suffered, because of me. How am I supposed to be the Green Ninja like this now? How do I know that this stuff didn't happen to some kids in Stiix? Or all those villages Chen attacked? How am I supposed to try to save the city, when I know I could just be making them go through what you did? You just… you just smiled through all this. How… how did you even let me get so close to you, if you felt this?

Or is it wrong of me to even act like, I even understand it? Is this painwhat you felt? Or, am I just acting like I understand you again? I never understood you. Everytime I thought I did, you would do something to make me think, maybe, I didn't. You really made me think we would be together. You murdered everyone in the palace. You took everything away from me. Did… did all that make you feel better in the end? Did all that, get rid of this feeling? Did you… did you feel better, when it was over? Did you… did you feel better in the end, Harumi? Or… or did you feel even worse?

I… I won't ever know. And, I guess, that's just my punishment for this. I won't know you. I won't get to ask you, if you ever did feel satisfied. Or, if you were okay with it. I don't think you were. I don't think, anyone could be. You ended up suffering… again. It's… it's just how it goes, isn't it? This is… how it has to be.

….I think, I think I'm okay now. I can… I can go on. I need to talk about the plan. I need to, I need to get this done. I can't keep, putting this off. I thought I was ready for this. I really thought, thought I would be able to. I… I'm sorry. I'll, try to cut out, all that, when I finish. I… I need to talk about the rest of it now. I can't, keep acting angry. I don't know how much I'll say but… let's do this.

So, we had Harumi captured, right? Once we had her, I knew we would have to come up with something to do with her. I'm not sure what my plan was at first, but now that we had her, I didn't quite know what to do. At first, we wanted to trade her for our friends in Kryptarium, but I knew that my father wouldn't do that. She'd brought back someone that wouldn't want to deal like that. If he found out we had Harumi, he wouldn't stop unless he got her back.

While we had her captive, Harumi kept trying to convince us about what we should do. She made it seem like she'd wanted to be captured, so she could reaffirm to us that we were doomed, and nothing would stop Garmadon. That we couldn't see this ending, because I couldn't change. The fact we had her meant nothing. Just because we'd taken her, didn't mean we had anything of an advantage.

I didn't want to stay in the same room as her. Just being there was enough to make me sick. So instead, I left to go and talk to Mystake. She had something to show me. Harumi had the Mask of Hatred on her when we captured her. We had it in our possession now, and Mystake and Skylor were offering it to me as something to use if my power didn't come back. Mystake warned me that using it, though, would be like touching dark magic. If I used it, I could be lost in it. When I saw it… it was tempting. I won't lie and say it wasn't tempting. Without my power… we couldn't do anything.

Instead, I threw the mask down and said I wouldn't use it on her. I wasn't going to let her sway me like that. I knew she'd done that intentionally. She could have gotten rid of the mask, but she didn't. So it was up to me to turn it down. I refused to use it. Instead, I had come up with another plan. A plan that would let us finally have a chance at actually winning the city back from Garmadon. We were going to take control of the Colossus.

I gathered everyone together to make clear that I couldn't keep waiting around for my power to come back. I had to accept it wouldn't. If I tried to hold onto it, then I'd just be making everything worse. Instead, we had to find another source of power. Since we had Skylor with us, we could have her absorb Garmadon's power. If she was able to use it, she'd control the Colossus, and we'd take down Garmadon with it. And in order to do so… we'd use Mystake to help take Skylor 'prisoner' to go and meet him.

It was a good plan. But I'm sure you all already know that I don't ever get to have a plan go right. Mystake was able to do a perfect impression of Harumi. If I hadn't seen her transform, I'd never have been able to tell the difference. It's scary how well Oni can impersonate people. Harumi's rage at it was enough to tell us we'd done something right too. Mystake took Skylor and the two of them went to be picked up by the SOG and make it to Garmadon.

The entire time, I thought we'd have this down. I thought maybe, finally, we were able to actually win this. We'd been running for so long, now we had the chance to win. I never thought that something bad would happen. I never thought this plan would lead to anything. It was going to be an easy plan for us. We'd win. That was it.

Instead… Harumi broke free. She overpowered Dareth and ran off. The moment that I saw her gone, and Dareth in her place, I felt numb. Everything had just broken down. I knew that something was wrong, and that now I'd just sent Mystake and Skylor into danger. I wanted to go and rescue them, but Nya wouldn't let me. If we went after them, I'd have to face Garmadon. I wasn't able to do that yet. I'd even already said that I was willing to accept I didn't have my power. I had to wait. I couldn't do anything but wait and let them take care of it for me.

… Instead, only Skylor came back. I found out from her later what happened. When they were caught, Mystake had shown her true form as an Oni, and fought Garmadon. The two were evenly matched, and with a bit of trickery, Skylor was able to get his power and escape. Mystake stayed behind and was ready to fight Garmadon. She said it looked like she was able to actually be on his level. Instead, when Skylor was being pursued by Killow, she overheard that Mystake… didn't, make it.

That's just someone else to add to the list that tried to help me, and paid the price for it. I knew from the start that something could happen to her. The fact she was an oni was always going to be a dangerous thing. But I never thought, that would happen. Hearing that he'd taken down Mystake was just another reason why he had to go down. Another thing to really make it clear, we were fighting something powerful. But I didn't… I didn't want that to happen.

That's why I said before I never fully understood Mystake. I only knew her for such a short time. It felt like she had already figured me out, and decided what I needed to do. Like, everything was already planned out in her mind, and it was time for me to figure out what she already knew. I wish… I wish I got to know her more. Spend more time with her. I felt like she knew things I could have needed. I wanted to know more about her, nad more about the FSM. I wanted to know more about what she knew about Ninjago, and what she thought of it. Why she decided to leave behind her people, for this place. What had taken her in like that? I wanted to know so much more about her. But… I didn't. It was just something else that Harumi took from me. Something else that he was taking from me.

...And we didn't have time to grieve. Garmadon knew about this, and we had to go and take control. We went to the roof of the nearest building for Skylor to take control. The SOG were after us, and Garmadon knew we had his power. We had to do this. It felt like a hopeless situation, but we didn't have time to wait. We didn't have time to grieve. We had to do this.

Skylor couldn't do it, not at first. Instead, Garmadon went to move it. Seeing that thing coming for us, was as terrifying as it always was. But I knew that we had a chance. We had hope. Even if I wanted to run, I couldn't. I told Skylor she could do it. I had faith in her. I'd learned I couldn't let myself fight every battle. I had to lean on them. And I knew Skylor was strong. I believed in her. I needed her to show it to me. It wasn't until the thing was just about to crush us that she finally was able to grab control. (Skylor, if you're reading this… I don't hold anything against you, I know that it wasn't your fault. Don't think it is, okay?)

And then, we had it. We drove it all the way to Borg Tower. We got it all the way up to Garmadon. I'd spent weeks under Garmadon's thumb, and now we had a chance to defeat him. We had the thing we needed to make him finally submit to us. We even managed to destroy the Oni Mask Killow had on with the raw power of the Colossus. We were winning. Each step that thing took was like a breath of fresh air after weeks of being underground. We'd done it.

...But Garmadon was stronger. His hatred for me was stronger than Skylor. We smashed his throne. We drove it all the way to him. But he let it drop from the tower. His anger had just gotten bigger the longer that we fought him. And once he had control, that was it. Skylor couldn't measure up to that. And the longer she tried, the more she looked like she was in pain. The more it looked like, everything was going downhill. It was like our victory had never happened. But she kept trying. She kept going and trying to take control, even as she looked ready to collapse.

Somewhere in the struggle, the Colossus struck a building and caused it to collapse. I don't know when it happened. I was too focused on helping Skylor. I only looked up by chance. I looked up to see that building collapsing with the Colossus in front of it. But it wasn't the building I noticed. It was the person on top of it. Harumi was standing on the roof. She was there, and we looked right at each other. Somehow… somehow, I was able to see her. See everything like that. And… and watch, as the building collapsed.

...I've… I've talked about this already. But I can't, I can't forget her look. I could barely see it. I didn't even really see it. But… but I could feel it. It was like, all of the space between us didn't exist. I saw her last moments. I saw… I saw her face as it happened. Her face as… as the building collapsed. She was shocked. Confused. Scared. And… looking right at me. It wasn't a look, of anger at me. Or blaming me. She looked like… like the girl I met in the palace. She wasn't putting on an act anymore. She… she realized, she was about to die. And I saw it.

… And… she did. She went down with it. Garmadon went crazy. He started destroying everything with the Colossus. Skylor had been poisoned by his power, and couldn't take control anymore. I realized that she couldn't fight him without getting worse. We'd lost the battle. We'd, lost everything. And… and…

...I'm going to end the chapter here. I'd taken, everything from Harumi. Garmadon was enraged and, now we had lost more than just our hope. And through it all, I was about to learn what it truly meant to face my father.

* * *

"Alright," Nya stood up, "That's enough."

Lloyd didn't say anything. His head was hung. His cheeks were filled with dried tears. The seat under him had bunched up from where his hands had dug so hard into it. He didn't respond at all to how Nya spoke to him. His hair hung down over his face, obscuring the look of his eyes.

Slowly, Nya walked over to Lloyd and got down on one knee in front of him. She reached out and took his hand with her own, squeezing it. Lloyd didn't respond. After a moment, Nya slowly leaned down so she could look up into his green eyes. His expression was hollow and exhausted.

"Lloyd…" Nya slowly gripped his hand, "You've spent so long thinking you have to carry all this yourself. Didn't you say that you couldn't fight everyone's battles for them? You shouldn't be fighting this one yourself, either." Lloyd didn't respond.

"I know she meant a lot to you," Nya continued, "Even if she hurt you. You care for everyone, Lloyd. The fact you feel this way about her proves that. That's why you're the Green Ninja. Because you care about everyone in Ninjago. After listening to all that, I know that you're not a bad person. You are not responsible for what happened to her, Lloyd."

Lloyd slowly lifted his head, his eyes starting to well up with tears ago, "How… how? You… you were there, Nya… You…"

"Yeah, I was there, and that's how I know you didn't do this," Nya sat up along with him, "You wanted me to listen to these chapters because I understood, Lloyd. You knew I was there. None of the others would get it. I do. I know you didn't, Lloyd," Nya frowned, "And I won't let you keep going thinking that you did."

Lloyd trembled as he shook his head, "Why… why does this hurt, Nya? Why? Why can't I stop thinking about her? I shouldn't feel this way. I-I lost my dad, t-that should, that should hurt more. Why? Why doesn't it? Why am… why am I feeling this way?"

"I don't know exactly why, Lloyd," Nya shook her head, "Only you know that. But I do know that you're a good person. You wouldn't be feeling this way if you weren't. Even after all she did, you still cared for her. What happened ot her, happened. But I know you're strong, Lloyd. After all she did, you didn't let it break you. I don't know if I could've done that. But you held on," Nya's grip tightened on his hand, "And I won't let you give up now either."

Lloyd looked down at Nya. The one that been with him the entire time. The one that was beside him through all of it. When his friends died, when Harumi died, all of it. Someone that hadn't given up on him. Even after all of this time. Lloyd' seyes began to fill with tears. As soon as Nya saw this, she sat up and smiled at him.

"Y-You… you…" Lloyd gripped his fists, "I-I'm not… strong. I'm not, like that. L-Look at me? I-I can't even… I can't even talk about this without… without letting… without all this just…" He gasped a bit as a fresh wave of tears rolled down his face, "How can you say that, when I'm… I'm like this?"

"Because you've always been strong, Lloyd," Nya nodded her head to him, "And even if it looks like we're being hard on you, it's because we're your friends. We know what you're capable of. And it's just like you said," Nya smirked, "Ninja never quit. You never quit when Harumi did all this to you. So, I won't let you quit on me either."

Lloyd stared at Nya for a few more moments. Then, a few more tears rolled from his face. Then more. And more. And soon his facade had finally broke. He hunched over as he finally, fully, cried. Cried over Harumi. Cried over what she'd done to him. He didn't want to break down in front of Nya. He'd spent so long refusing to do it. He couldn't hold back anymore. His teras flowed from him as he let all of those emotions out as he sobbed in front of Nya, in front of the one person that'd stayed by his side during all of it. All the while, he could feel where she was holding his hand, and feel how she just smiled at him the entire time.

"I-I'm sorry, Nya, I-I…" Lloyd blubbered out. Before he could say more, Nya moved forward and sat down beside him. She drew Lloyd into her shoulder. Once there, Lloyd couldn't help but stay there. Nya wrapped her arm around him and held him as he cried, and let him finally show someone the pain he'd felt.

"Just a few more chapters, Lloyd," Nya smiled, "Just a few more before we finish this. You don't have to keep this from us anymore. And we'll make sure everyone knows it."

Lloyd didn't say anything. Instead, he just accepted the embrace from her friend as the minutes dissolved away as he finally, fully, let his emotions run free and cried into Nya's arms. The chapter he'd been holding back had closed, and it was time for him to finally move forward.


	46. The Green Ninja

Harumi was gone. Garmadon was enraged. Skylor was poisoned. And now, our hope had dwindled to almost nothing. This was no longer about stopping Garmadon. We'd just made Garmadon angry, and now he was out to destroy us and the city together.

Of course, we were still on top of a building, with the Colossus coming right at us with nowhere to hide. Just to show us how strong it was, it picked up a car like it was a toy and chucked it to destroy the roof access. Nya and Dareth jumped to the next building, but Skylor wasn't waking up. I wasn't going to leave her behind, but I couldn't wake her up. I had to make the riskiest move I could and jump onto the Colossus' fist when it tried to crush us, then jump over to Nya.

Just looking into the eyes of that thing was like looking into a horror movie. Its eyes terrified me. I don't know how Garmadon was doing it, but feeling how cold Skylor had gone trying to use it was enough. I knew that this wasn't right. Nothing about that Colossus was right. It was the embodiment of the hatred Harumi had instilled in my father when she brought him back. It was everything that he was now. A giant monster, ready to destroy me.

...I realize that I said in the start, I wasn't going to call him my father. Nya pointed out that I've been saying it a lot, though. I don't know why. Even as we were running away from that giant thing, I still saw him as my father. I still saw him as the man that I wanted to save. I kept calling him my father. I kept, thinking of him that way, but I knew he wasn't. I know that he will never be my father. He won't ever be, anything like that again. The fact that, even when he had just tried to kill me with that thing, I still thought of him that way is… I don't know. I don't know how I feel about him.

I was feeling a lot of things, really. We were running away while the Colossus just went about destroying everything. Every possible thing it could. The roads, the buildings, the cars, anything it could get its hands on. Garmadon was serious about killing me. He wanted me dead, and he'd destroy the city to do it. While we were running, that hit me harder than the Colossus was hitting all of those buildings. The city was about to pay for all of this.

The more we ran, the more I couldn't figure out what I was feeling. Everything was just hitting me. Garmadon's anger felt like it was flowing right into me. I was reeling from what I'd just seen with… Harumi. I was dragging Skylor when I knew I was the reason she was like this. And I hadn't even gotten a chance to really process that Mystake was… gone. Everything had just gone wrong. Horribly wrong. We'd lost everyone that was there to fight with us. It was down to me, Nya and Dareth. Just us. Now, we couldn't count on anyone to help us.

Nya said she still had the battle wagon, and if we just got to it, we could escape the city. I didn't want to escape. After everything we'd done, I didn't want to leave it behind. But I knew we didn't have much choice. We had lost almost everything. Garmadon wasn't going to let up on us. It was time for us to do or die and… and I felt like we were going to die. Dareth was the one that pushed me. He said I had to know when to turn tail. I had to know when we couldn't fight anymore. And just like every other time until now… I was too weak to help lead the fight.

I went for the wagon, but said we'd stay and try to fight. We couldn't just leave the city behind, when I'd been the one to do this. I'd hurt everyone. I had to do and help. I had to. We dragged ourselves way and down the streets. I could hear the Colossus destroying buildings left and right. The news told everyone to flee. I knew this was my plan. My plan had seemed so smart at the time. I thought it would work. Everyone believed in it. Now two people had died for the sake of it, and I was only a few steps away from being totally alone.

As if it wasn't enough, we ran across UV by pure chance. The Colossus had thrown her while she wore the Mask of Hatred, so she'd survived the fall and was waiting for backup. When she saw us, it was like being punched when you were down. Even if she was crazy, she could fight, and she could do a lot to mess me up. Since Skylor was down, we didn't have a choice. Nya had to stay behind and fight. I had to drag Skylor further, without her.

Maybe that's a bit dramatic, but when it was all happening, that's what it felt like. It was like everything was just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. And we just had to keep going. I could hear UV fighting with Nya in the background, I just had to keep going. I felt like if I stopped, I'd just give up. It was hurting. Everything was hurting. I wanted to just make this all end. I guess, that's what it's like when you see so many people just lose for you. Everyone was protecting me, but I could barely protect myself.

We did get to the Battle Wagon, and I drove it as fast as I could to save Nya. When we got back, I was worried the worst had happened. IT was only a step above it. UV had hurt Nya's shoulder, so now she couldn't fight at her full strength. We broke the Mask she wore by hitting it hard enough… which, doesn't make a lot of sense really, since the Mask was all about making you take really hard hits. I guess that's just how it was. I don't think about it. I wasn't really caring about that. I was more concerned with getting away.

Instead, that's when UV's backup came. The SOG were all around us. Nya was hurt, Skylor wasa down, and we had to fight. In truth, it almost felt like the end. They didn't stop coming. No matter what we did, we couldn't stop them. We were fighting for our lives. It was finally time for our Resistance to come to an end. It was like we'd fully, and truly, lost.

...But the Resistance Never Quits. Just when it was at its bleakest, that's when the ninja showed up. Mystake had told us to wait for them, and that if we held out, we'd be able to defeat my father. And that's exactly what happened. Dragons from the First Realm were carrying our friends with them. The friends Harumi had murdered, that I'd spent so long waiting for, that I thought I'd never be able to see again… were here. Seeing Master Wu atop the Firstbourne, my friends riding dragons that felt unlike anything I'd ever felt before… it was enough to finally give me hope. Hope that maybe, this could end well.

They weren't just for show, either. Zane rescued us. That was when Master Wu arrived. I know I've been glossing over this. And this was when I first got to see him. He was a young man, not the old Master that everyone knows him as. He looked… incredible, really. He was wearing what the ninja told me was the Dragon Armor, carrying his father's sword and armor. And he was riding the mother of all dragons. I didn't think Master Wu could be more impressive than he already was… but that image will always stick with me. He wasn't cryptic, wise, or anything like that. This was Master Wu in his prime. A young man with everything that I wanted to be. In that moment, I realized that I was looking at the Son of the First Spinjitzu Master.

When he was an old man, he was wise to avoid a fight. Today, he wasn't an old man. Wu's words were about as inspiring as anything I could have said. I still can't imagine anything cooler than that. Everything about the man that came back from the First Realm was… incredible. He said the ninja had taught him everything he knew, and today, he would go into battle alongside me. Wu was there to help, and the ninja had finally come back.

Seeing all of them like that, with their dragons, their weapons, and with Wu like that… it was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I'd been hiding and waiting for them for so long. I'd been trying to take on my father on my own, and those that were there to help me felt like they had just fallen trying to hold me up. But now, I didn't need to hide anymore. We were going to finally take down my father and his Colossus. We finally had a shot at this. We finally had the chance to do something.

Wu said I had to confront my father. I knew, deep down, it was time. Garmaodn had lost Harumi. The SOG were scattered. We had the power to do this. Even without my power, I had to have a chance. Mystake had told me that it wasn't the power I held that was important, but me. I'd been changing all my life. I'd become the Green Ninja before, and I could do it again. It's just like my father said in his Cursed Realm… it was the color of my heart that made me the Green Ninja. It was time for me to finally do this. I'd shown the people I was alive, but I hadn't saved them yet. I'd revealed myself, and now I had to truly step into my own. And Wu reminded me even without my power, I had him by my side. I had my friends by my side. I could do this. Wu and I mounted Firstbourne and flew up to fight my father. The ninja took their dragons to go and take down the Colossus. Nya and Dareth went about helping with the evacuation. It was time for us to take back our city.

Riding Firstbourne is something that I can't really explain why, but it felt amazing. It was like the first time I'd felt my power before. I could feel that Firstbourne was amazing. She was truly something deserving of the title. I knew that she was something special from seeing her, but I had no idea how Wu was able to ride her. She was the strongest dragon I ever met, and I don't think anything will ever top that. It all just reminded me that I was finally getting a chance to face my father with my full strength. I had allies like this again. With Firstbourne and Wu, I could face him and win.

Before we arrived, Wu admitted that he didn't know how to defeat my father. Only a fool knew everything, he said. Wu said he could feel Garmadon's rage as we made our way to the tower, too. When we landed on top of the place Garmaodn had made his throne, I felt like I was walking into a cave of pure evil. The platform was broken apart in several spaces, and Garmadon truly had turned it into his dark palace. He ruled Ninjago City from here. We weren't walking into Borg Tower… we were walking into his palace. When we climbed our way up to him, it was like the rest of the city had completely vanished. I couldn't feel anything but me. If Wu wasn't wearing such bright armor, I'd probably have lost track of him. Even if we were surrounded by the city on all sides, I knew this wasn't the city. This… this was my father. This was it. This was the fight that everything had been leading up to. From the moment I faced him in Kryptarium, to the second I stepped foot on that tower, this was it. This was the fight.

My father dropped down from the shadows to fight us. Now that he was at his full power, looking at him was like seeing a demon. He was nothing but power and rage. I could feel it from him as we stepped forward to fight him. I knew this had to end here, but in those few seconds that he looked at us like that, I almost felt like turning away. All of my memories came flooding back to me at once. I'd lost to him before. I'd lost to him a lot. This wasn't the man that had tried to save me. He wanted me destroyed. He claimed he'd unlocked his true potential. All we had was the armor of the FSM, and our determination.

Garmadon was going ot tes that determination, though. Each time he struck us, it felt like we were being hit by the Colossus itself. I couldn't even hear the thing out there, even if I knew that it was there. Even if I knew the ninja were fighting it. Everything seemed to just, focus in on my father. His first attack almost threw me right off the tower. His power wasn't something we could fight head on. He was truly a monster, just like Harumi said. And we had to be the ones to take him down.

A lot of the fight that Wu put up, I didn't get to see. Garmadon threw me up into the air with his power and I slammed into two chunks of concrete before I could get back in the fight. By the time I was even there to fight again, the two had already pushed each other to their limits. I could hear it, though. I could hear them fighting. The two of them had fought before, when Garmadon tried to take the Golden Weapons. Now, they were fighting over Ninjago itself. The sword Wu was carrying was something Garmadon kept pointing out as their father's. The FSM had made a realm to avoid the fighting before the Oni and Dragon. In a way, that's exactly what was happening. Master Wu, the embodiment of the dragons, was fighting my father, who only had his Oni side. I wonder what the FSM would think if he saw this.

When I got back into the fight, Wu had pinned Garmadon and called the Firstbourne up to do… probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen a dragon do. The Firstbourne spewed lava straight from her mouth to completely encase my father in it. I had to get down just because of the sheer heat of it. For a moment, all the darkness in the tower had faded away. Apparently, Wu had already done this to someone called Iron Baron. Seeing it in person… I can only feel sorry for whoever thi Baron guy was.

But even that wasn't enough. My father broke free, telling us that it was the fight that fueled him. He'd said that the first time I fought him, but this time I got to see it. When he unleashed his power to attack the Firstbourne, he blasted Wu all the way off the tower and knocked the dragon out of the air. I was thrown all the way to the edge of the platform, holding on just to stay up. I saw Firstbourne recover enough to go and grab Wu before he hit the ground. Seeing that meant I was alone again. Garmadon's power was too much for us to fight together. I had to finish this fight… alone. Again.

When my father came to the edge, he said it was goodbye. I don't remember what I said, but I know that I made him angry. He dragged me back up and threw me back. When I got back up, he'd picked up the sword Wu had with him and started coming at me. I remember the look he gave me. He looked… happy. It was like he really wanted this fight to keep going. He really did get fueled by the fight.

I threw myself into that fight. I gave it everything I had. I put it all into it. My anger, my rage, my sadness, everything. I kept fighting for everyone. I fought for Mystake. I fought for Skylor. For Harumi. For my friends. For the city. I know it sounds silly, but that was what was keeping me going. Each time he attacked me, it was like that was it. I couldn't give up. Not now. Not after everything. Wu was gone. The ninja were fighting the Colossus. This fight… this fight had to be between us. I couldn't let him win. He couldn't take me down.

I stole the sword from Garmadon. When I did, he tried to send the same power at me that'd nearly killed me back in Kryptarium. I remember readying myself to get blown off, only to find the sword just absorbed it. I didn't know why, but I was going to use it. I had to defeat my father. I threw myself into the battle. I thought, maybe with this thing, I could fight him. I tried to tell him he could change. He'd changed for me before. Harumi couldn't have jus brought back the negative parts of him. There had to be something left. Something for me to hold onto.

But Garmadon didn't care. He said people don't change, they only reveal who they truly were. He pinned me down and started raining his attacks down on my sword. All I could do was just take them. I didn't have my power. I didn't have my friends. I didn't have anything. I just had this sword, and my will. He kept striking me. Over, and over again. I know it wasn't that long, but it felt like hours. I thought I could fight him. I had taken the sword. I'd gotten to him. I'd done all of it. I thought… I thought I could fight him.

But I couldn't. When he knocked the sword out of my hands, I knew that I couldn't fight him. He watched it, fall all the way down to the streets below. All the way down. As I watched it fall, I felt like everything was over. What was I supposed to do now? I didn't have a weapon. I didn't have Wu. I didn't have anything. Garmadon was shouting at me to get up. To keep fighting him. I had to do something… I had to keep fighting.

… When I saw the sword fall, I felt like it was over. But that was when I remembered it. Something that my father had taught me before. Something that I had already been doing. I couldn't fight him. My father's power, it was too much. I couldn't overcome it. But there was a way to fight your enemy without using weapons. It was something my father had taught me. It was something that I had to do. Garmaodn said I couldn't change. Mystake said that I'd been changing all my life. The fight was what fueled him. If he had a fight, he could always win. Without that fight… he had nothing.

I thought back to when he'd tried to crush us with the Colossus. I'd felt something. I'd felt connected to him. I knew that there was something there. Something that I didn't understand at the time. When Haumi had brought him back, she'd used me. There was only one thing in Ninjago that my father could be connected to. One thing that I could use against him. I couldn't fight him. But I could resist him.

I couldn't fight him, but I could resist him.

I stopped fighting. The fight was what fueled him. All this time, I'd been resisting him, thinking that wasn't the right way to do this. I didn't attack him. I just let him fight me. I let him try to hurt me. I didn't let him think I wanted to attack. I couldn't fight him. I'd resist him. And once I did that, it was like everything about him… drained away.

Harumi had brought back someone that was fueled by rage and hatred. When I stopped letting him feed into that, I stopped fueling him. All this time, he'd been trying to track me down. To hunt me down. But now, he had me. And I wouldn't give into his demand to fight me. He wanted me to fight him. He started shouting at me, like he was begging me to. But the longer that he kept at it, the more his power drained out. The more that I understood what was going on. The more that I knew where my power had gone.

When he finally fell, I felt it. All this time, he'd been drawing on my power. The connection I'd felt to him, wasn't just some feeling. It'd always been there. He was the Emperor. I was the Green Ninja. Power is never truly lost, Mystake said. And once I felt that… I felt my power. I realized all this time, I'd been fueling the fight. He'd drained me of my power when he attacked me. His power didn't come from his Oni side. It came from the one thing in Ninjago he had left. And that meant I could take it back. I became the Green Ninja agin.

As soon as I had my power, he knew the fight was over. He had nothing left. When he fell down, he looked like a weak man. Someone that had been dragged back from death. Someone that wasn't the man I remembered. He even told me to finish him, told me to take him down, and get rid of him. I guess it would have been a fitting end for him. The son that he'd tried to hunt down, finally coming to take him down.

But I didn't. I refused to. I told him that it was over. He knew it was over. There wasn't anything he could do now, but submit. I'd finally won. I'd brought down my father. I'd stopped Harumi's plan. I'd finally become the Green Ninja again.

That was when he told me something. That his power was the only thing that could beat back the darkness. That _they_ were coming. He refused to tell me more. The ninja had found the Oni lands deserted. I thought it was over, but I knew when he said that it wasn't. He had no reason to lie to me. But I wasn't ready to listen. Not yet. It was time to finish this.

After everything, I put Garmadon in prison. I put him where he belonged for his crimes. I refused to kill him. My father kept saying that they were coming. That something was. Now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time for me to reunite with my friends… and to finally put all of this behind us and help the city rebuild. It was time to finally become the Green Ninja again.

I spent a long time with my friends after that. They told me all about what they did in the First Realm. Master Wu would fill in what they didn't. I learned about what they'd done, how Wu had grown up into a teenager and helped save them from Iron Baron. How they'd escaped dragon hunters and befriended them. About how they'd been on the run just like I had, and were so glad to be back. I can't say I got all the tory, but I didn't care. I was with my friends again. After everything… I was with my friends again.

Just like always, we went about cleaning up the city. None of us were expecting the celebration, but I wasn't going to turn it down. We might have been involved in this, but we'd fought for a long time. We'd saved the people. We were able ot have one celebration. One moment to finally stop and relax after everything that happened. Hearing the people… hearing everything, it was just what I had to hear. After everything, after all this time, I felt like this was it. I'd finally… finally won. This was over.

On that night, I helped see the Firstbourne off. Wu had gone back to normal, but he wasn't like the Wu I knew. He was more like the man that had come to help me. He was still the man that wanted to keep his ninja safe, above all else. I'll always be grateful to him for it. For helping me like that. He helped bring down the Colossus. And I was able to watch as the dragon that had befriended him flew back off to the First Realm.

Even through the celebration, however. I knew something wasn't right. My father's words wouldn't stop echoing in my head. I couldn't help it. I knew something was wrong. Wu even said they never saw the Oni. They were gone when they got to their lands. The First Realm was missing the Oni… and if my father was right, this wasn't the end. I'd become the Green Ninja again, but something wasn't right.

There was one more chapter to this story. One more trial for us to overcome. Something Harumi had never foreseen, something only my father knew about. The Oni were on the march, and we were all that would stand between them, and Ninjago.

* * *

Lloyd let out a long sigh. For a moment, Nya looked up in worry, thinking he was about to be upset again. Instead, however, Lloyd gave Nya a small look, then slowly rubbed his neck.

"So… how was all of that?" Lloyd asked.

Nya blinked for a moment, then let out a small chuckle, "Why are you asking me? It's your book."

"Yeah, but you were there!" Lloyd leaned in, "Was that good? I know the chapters were a bit short at first, and I know this one and the last one were longer. I mean, should I spread them out a bit more?"

"Lloyd, you went through everything," Nya rolled her eyes, "You're telling your own story. If you didn't say something, it's probably not important. Least that's how I'd feel if this was my book."

"I guess you're right…" Lloyd sighed, "I wanted to talk about the First Realm and all that, but, I didn't have anything to say. The ninja were doing all of that. Should I add that too?"

"Zane said you get worried over this stuff," Nya stood up, "Lloyd, you've finished talking about it. Don't worry about it. People will want to hear this. Just be confident in yourself."

"Yeah… yeah, I guess you're right," Lloyd stood up, "Thanks, Nya."

"No problem," Nya crossed her arms, "Are you going to do the stuff with the Oni with me, too?"

"Actually…" Lloyd shook his head, "I'm gonna talk about that all together. I think it'll be better if I do it all together. And I know how I wanna record that one, too."

"Really?" Nya smirked, "You wanna throw that my way?"

"You'll see," Lloyd nodded, "Next chapter is gonna be the last one. I'm gonna finish this. And then… well, Zane says we'll have to do a lot of editing, but we'll make it work. I'm ready for this."

"Well then," Nya smiled, "I'm looking forward to it."


	47. The March of the Oni

I know that normally, I split up each adventure that I do into multiple chapters. I thought about doing that for this one, too. But whenever I did, I only ended up with about two in my head. And neither of them were that long. So, I decided to combine them into one long chapter. The last chapter for this book. The last adventure I've had until now. I've been writing this for a long time, and this was the last part of everything Harumi set into motion. Everything was about to come to a head here. Let's finish this.

Normally, I'd say something about being upset that I let myself think we were at peace ever since we defeated my father. But the entire time that we were waiting for this to happen, my father's words hadn't left me. I don't know why, but I felt that something was coming. Ever since this started, everything came back to the First Realm. Harumi revived my father with the Oni Masks. The ninja and Wu went to the First Realm to save themselves from Garmadon, and it was by the dragon's power that they managed to get back. My father was brought back as the Oni blood that he had. And when Wu got back, he said they enver found the Oni, even if Iron Baron claimed to have fought them to gain the respect of the dragon hunters. Even before my father and I foguth, I should have known one day, I'd have to face the Oni.

Of course, that wasn't what was on my mind the entire time that we were waiting for something to happen. I was busy helping the city. Everyone was praising us for helping, but I felt guilty. I'd been part of why this all happened, so being praised for it, didn't feel right. It wasn't right of the city to give me praise after Garmadon had only come back thanks to me. So I tried my best to help out. I mainly worked with going around Ninjago and helping out with the villages that the SOg had spread out to and still had locked down. It seemed that Harumi had built up a network all over, just to make sure that the main force in Ninjago City would be able to operate without them. The number of villages I had to fight to free was more than it should have been.

During all of this, Wu declared he wanted to rebuild the Monastery. He said after connecting to his father's realm again, he wanted to honor his legacy and remake the home that he'd spent his life in. I know until now, I've talked about it in a weird sort of way. I think that's because I didn't have a connection to the Monastery. Again, I was the one that burnt it down, so I never even spent a day in it. The ninja knew it as their first home too, but it was Wu that had the most connection to it. Wu said he didn't want to wait, that we had to go and do this now before our time ran out for it. I don't know what time was running out, but the ninja said Wu was still feeling like his younger self. Of course we helped build it when he asked.

Rebuilding the Monastery was an odd experience. Until now, we'd lived in the Bounty. It was sort of the final nail in the coffin to Yang's Temple… which, we still sorta just abandoned. We had barely even moved into it when we left. Cole said he went and talked to Yang or something, but I still think that was a lot better of a base. We could move it wherever we wanted, after all, and it was useful to just move to a location and use the Bounty to go somewhere faster. Plus… that temple was huge. I don't want to knock the Monastery, but Wu rebuilt it, really small. After saving Ninjago, I was sorta hoping to get my own room. We have to share. I mean, they're my friends so it's not like I'm mad but… come on Wu, you couldn't have just built a little more in there? Just one more room?

Well, either way, when we worked to rebuild it, Wu said he also wanted to commemorate our history. After everything that happened, we needed a record of it. Again, the ninja said that Wu was still feeling young. I don't think I ever really minded, though. Having Wu back, and having him act less… cryptic and vague than usual was refreshing. It was like he almost understood us more, which I don't think I can complain about. We all pooled together everything we remembered about our previous adventures, and that's how we made it. We gave all we had to some painters that Wu brought on, and Wu went about making everything for us.

Wu declared that from now on, we'd honor our legacy. He even made us new ninja suits that were sort of like a fusion between our first ones and the new ones we had. I liked them, but they were a little weird. He kept saying they were legacy, but, they weren't? They were new suits. I mean, I remember during Day of the Departed, we had some new suits that were closer to that sorta thing. I mean, I guess it doesn't matter, I'm just overthinking things.

While we rebuilt the Monastery, the city was rebuilding. I heard Nya say that construction companies get a lot of money from all our adventures, and I'm sure that's true after seeing what Garmadon did to the city while he was in a rampage. It wasn't even a full day, and he destroyed several blocks just swinging that Colossus around. I'm just thankful that most people had already fled the city when that happened. I was serious about what I told Harumi about making more of her. I didn't want my father to make other people suffer. Jay and I have talked about why people still want to live in Ninjago City when it gets wrecked up every few months… and I guess it's like why we always rebuild the Bounty. Even if it's doomed to fall, we like to have something we can call our own. Each time we rebuild, we get stronger. Oddly, the Oni didn't actually destroy the city, just froze it. So I guess this time, the people got out of that one.

While we were talking about the murals, Jay started going on about how he and Nya remembered fighting this Djinn that was a pirate named Nadakhan, and that he had broken into our vault in Hiroshi's Labyrinth. We decided as a group that we wanted to have all of our artifacts somewhere safe so that we couldn't get them stolen from us without our knowing. So, when Borg came to us asking if we could do something, we pitched him an idea. A few days later, Borg had already worked in a full high tech vault into his new plans for Borg Tower's reconstruction.

Oh yeah, Borg. I don't know why, but when all this started, he just disappeared. I… assumed Garmadon might have killed him at first. I know that sounds dark, but he didn't show up at Kryptarium. I think he said that Garmadon just had him prisoner inside Borg Tower and didn't let anyone know about it, since he could be an asset, something like that. I guess that makes some sense, but anyways. This is important, since it meant that everything we had was now inside Borg Tower.

All the time that we spent rebuilding, I thought about what happened. I was messed up from Harumi and Mystake. My father had left me with words that meant I couldn't relax. I couldn't get what he said out of my head. I couldn't relax. The ninja kept trying to get me to do something, and even when I did, it didn't help. I couldn't help it. After everything that happened, I couldn't just go back to normal. Harumi had destroyed everything about me and… just putting it back together so I could be the Green Ninja again was easy to do when I was fighting my father. Now that I had to go back to normal… I couldn't.

I couldn't stop thinking about Harumi. I still can't. I know that I've talked about it before, but I don't want to make it seem like I moved on. I can't help but feel guilty over her. If I have regrets in life, she's one of the biggest ones. I know that I couldn't have helped her, she did that to herself. She… she put herself in harm's way like that. And she worked to bring my father back. But I know she was only like that because of me. Because of what I did, all the way back when I was a kid. I know that I can't help what happened to her.

That was also when it set in that Mystake had left us. I didn't really feel it at first, during everything. I was hurt, sure, but I was hurting over a lot. That was when I started to, feel guilty that I didn't get to know her more. I wanted to know more about her, but I never would. It was like Harumi. I could only do so much to try to get past them, but it didn't help. I was just going to keep feeling this way. Keep feeling, bad like this. I was messed up and… I don't think I'm all that okay now either. Knowing the last time I saw Mystake was when I was sending her off to go and deceive my father, and that the last thing I saw of Harumi was…. I don't want to think about it.

I knew one thing, though: it was all my father's fault. I'd come to accept that he wasn't the man that I knew him as. I know that he's technically my father. He's, the man that he once was, in a way. But Harumi hadn't brought him back in a way I could remember. He wasn't, the man that I wanted. And so, I didn't want to see him as my father. I think that's why I kept trying to call him Garmadon in my chapters. I wanted to, well, not think about him. But I can't. I can't help but see him as my father. And that's… that's why I hate him so much. I hate what he did to me. What he was planning to do to me… and that I was willing to listen to him.

Right before this all started, he called me to his cell to talk to him. They really didn't spare anything with designing his cell. From what I heard, the guards were terrified of him. He had changed since being put in prison. Everything about him had changed. I don't know why. Maybe without the fight to fuel him, he had to do something else. But I know that when I came to talk to him, he wasn't angry. He almost seemed… like a bit of his old self. He was toying with me the entire time. He wasn't frowning much at all. He wanted to cause trouble by making me doubt myself. I know that was true. And so when he started talking to me about the Oni… I listened.

Meeting him that day brought everything back that I wanted to get rid of. Just standing near him was like reminding me of being on top of Borg Tower again. I'd beaten him, but I don't think I truly defeated him. I felt that when he laughed at me, joked with me. I don't know why, but just seeing how he was always joking with me, playing with me, I almost feel sad for him. I don't know why I'm sad. But, I do. And then I get angry at him again. I don't want to hold this against him, because I know that Harumi did this to him. But that doesn't mean I could forgive him. He'd tried to kill me, he'd hunted me like an animal, murdered people, and I couldn't forget that. I wasn't going to forget that. Thanks to him, I'd never forget it.

He told me that the only way to beat back the darkness that was on its way, was to have him, an Oni, there to stop it. The Bringers of Destruction were coming. They would swallow this realm in darkness. He didn't say that exactly, but it's what Wu later confirmed. He wanted me to let him out, since I'd apparently just 'wasted time' with rebuilding things. I'd let our preparations go to waste. He said his power was all we could use to help save the city. No matter what, we'd have to stop the Oni with him, or fall without him. Again, he didn't say this exactly, but it's what he meant.

At first, I wanted to just dismiss him. I told them to leave him there. I refused to let him out to help us. He was just a shadow that I had to put behind me. I couldn't rely on him. And maybe, there was a way that I could've done this without fighting him. Maybe I could have found something to help the people. But I didn't. And that first talk… just makes me angry. Because I know that I was the one that listened to him. I didn't want to listen to him.

The minute that I left, it felt like everything was happening at once. I went back to the Monastery and found that apparently, Firstbourne had returned, carrying Faith with her. That was the first time I met her, and I could understand just from what little time I spent with her that she'd been someone that helped them. But she told Wu that the darkness was coming. Something had gone out and hurt the Firstbourne, the dragon that was the mother of, well, all of them. The Oni had apparently returned in force and swallowed up all of the dragon hunters. The Oni were on the march.

I barely had time to marvel at the fact that the city had remade the Bounty for us. I was too focused on what was happening. My father was right. Wu confirmed from her words that the Oni were on the way, and that was when we heard it. The city was under attack again. Darkness had emerged from, everywhere it seemed, and people were getting swallowed up by it. The Oni had come faster than I wanted to even think about. We had to go and help the people… when it felt like we'd just saved them already. They really shouldn't have thanked us.

When we arrived, the city was already under attack. The entire way there, I felt sick. I knew that this was something big. My father, the man who took over the city, wouldn't have been afraid of the Oni without reason. The darkness that attacked the city wasn't even the Oni itself. It was just their magic, being sent forward to clear the way for them. When I learned that… it was clear that the Oni were an actual threat. They were here to hurt us. To really, truly, take us over. And the only thing we could do at first, was just try to get the people out as fast as we could.

The first time we even faced the darkness, we couldn't do anything to it. We had just found the Commissioner and helped him and his men up onto the Bounty. We threw all of our powers at it, trying to push it back. Not even my green power did anything. Nothing was able to stop it. I could cut it with my sword, but it would just keep coming at me. It was like, a cloud that was coming to really drag everyone into it. The Oni were darkness, and wanted to make everything into their own domain. That smoke they made… it was more than enough for just that.

It felt like it was only a few minutes before the city was overtaken. I know it was less than an hour. The darkness was pouring out of the Realm Crystal in Borg's vault, and that was infecting the entire city. It turned the city into a wasteland in a matter of minutes. Everything looked sick and dead. I don't know what the Oni smoke does, but it didn't even look like the city anymore. We'd barely even heard that the Oni were coming, when this happened. It felt like hardly any time at all had passed.

All this time, I'd thought we could do this. That we could fight back the Oni. But they'd shown us without even showing up, they were stronger than us. Our powers did nothing to it. Cole was touched by it and said that it was the coldest he'd ever felt in his entire life. I could see a few people, frozen in place before the cloud got too thick. The Oni were truly taking the city over. We didn't have a choice at that point. The Oni had really come for us.

The entire way to go and get my father, I didn't want to do anything. I knew that this wasn't a smart idea. I knew that this man, changing as he was, wasn't going to be there to help us. He was there to serve his own needs, which just so happened to be clearing out the Oni. He said he could survive the darkness, but we'd succumb to it. We needed someone to help us. I'd fought so hard to get rid of him. I'd put him away. I'd had my time to try to reflect on everything and… and try to move past this. But I couldn't. I couldn't even do that. He was going to come crawling back into my life. I couldn't just leave him behind when he was the only thing that could help stop the Oni. So... I did it. I released the man that had taken over the city and… done everything to me.

Once we freed him, our first priority was getting back to the city. He insisted that he wouldn't do anything to us, and was just going around to explore. Everyone around me was tense. We all didn't want to have him on the Bounty with us. The others wanted me to tell them to put him back. I wanted to put him back. But I knew we couldn't. This threat… these Oni, they were something else. Something that had been festering inside me for too long. Ever since I'd fought him, his words were there. In my head. I couldn't let him get away.

We weren't wasting any time. Garmadon just wandered around, getting in our faces and observing our tasks. He acted, almost like a little kid. I don't know if that was an act or not. Harumi didn't bring him back to be a person. I almost think, maybe the reason he got sarcastic and angry at things was, he didn't know what else to do. I mean, that's just me making some random guesses. I'm not sure what was really going on in his head. He never let on what he was thinking. And I didn't want him there. I wanted to throw him over the ship and back into that cell. He didn't have his power… but I still didn't want him there.

After he nearly murdered us by turning off the ignition switch to send us hurtling towards the ground, I ended up having to stay by him just to keep him from doing that again. He was just there to cause trouble. He wanted to push us. He knew that we'd been the ones to defeat him… I don't know if he was testing us, or just getting petty revenge. But I had to follow him. Being near him made me feel sick. I wanted to be anywhere, but with him. I wanted to just get away. All the time. I hated it.

I think the one moment that made me really think about how Harumi had messed him up was when he demanded to go into our cabin. When he saw the pictures we had of all of us as a group, he kept asking if they were of some conquest, victory, stuff that someone who only cared about fighting would care about. It was like he couldn't understand it. Harumi hadn't bothered to care about giving him those feelings. A monster didn't need them. He found my picture of me and my father on Chen's Island, the picture I'd held onto ever since we took it. It was my memory of my father. I'd hunted it down after losing it when I went to Kryptarium. I'd spent days looking for it. I hoped, maybe, when he saw it… he'd remember.

...He smashed it. Right in front of me. He told me that sentimentality was just some weakness. Some… something I didn't need. It felt like he'd broke me when he said that. I'd hoped maybe, somehow, there was something inside him I could latch onto. He took the only picture I had to remember him by, and smashed it. I was so angry, I wanted to hit him. That was my picture. The thing I'd gotten back. And then he just… I don't know how he could do that. How he did that without even batting an eye. I hated it. I hated him. I hated having him there.

Thankfully, I didn't have to keep him around for much more. We had to get right to work. My father explained that the Realm Crystal had to be where they were coming from. If they were there, we had to destroy the thing. If we did that, we could close the breach they were using, and maybe stem the darkness. We had to destroy the thing that was in the middle of Ninjago City, which had already gotten completely swallowed up by darkness.

My father tried to say he'd go alone, but I wouldn't let him. I didn't trust him… and I think I was right to. Even if he did want to keep this realm safe for himself to conquer, I didn't know what he could do. Mystake had made clear that I was part Oni. I could survive the darkness. He insisted that was a foolish assertion to make. But I wouldn't let him sway me. I was too angry to let him. And I think I was right to be angry.

When we arrived, the darkness was already trying to come up and destroy the Bounty. It wanted to grab anything it could. Garmadon insisted that we give him a weapon and let him go down to do what we brought him out for. If it'd been any other situation, I wouldn't have let him. He was a man that was fueled by the fight. But I had to let him do this. I was prepared to go down there with him, and he was right in that he would need a weapon to destroy the crystal. So, I had Cole give him a sword. And the first thing he did was attack us.

For some reason, I knew he wasn't trying to betray us. When he managed to get us all ready to fight him, his power started to return. He was fueled by his anger and his will to win. Harumi's power she'd given him was, terrifying in a way. Like, if you think about it, as long as you fight him, he'll only get stronger. The only way to stop him is to not fight him. I knew he was drawing power from me, but he just jumped off the moment he had his power. If he could get the fight going with us, he could be ready for the bigger fight. Knowing that, I had to go after him, I couldn't let him get away. I was so angry at him, I didn't think about what would really happen to me if I couldn't survive down there. He'd just attacked my friends. He couldn't be trusted.

When I landed in the city, for the first few steps, everything seemed okay. But breathing in the smoke, made everything about me feel cold. I couldn't breathe. It was like the smoke was going inside me and making everything in me just, go numb. I could hardly even think. It was like suffocating, but without ever touching water. And all I could see in front of me was my father, playing with his power as if just seeing what he could do. I was dying a few feet from him.

I didn't do anything to stop it. I just felt my body adjusting to it. I think I had just enough Oni blood to actually make it. It wasn't enough to make me comfortable, and the air felt wrong, but I could fight and keep up with my father. Of course, the first thing he did was scold me for jumping down after him. If he thought I was going to leave him behind, he was wrong.

The city wasn't anything like I recognized. You couldn't see any sunlight. The only thing that let off any light was the purple magic that seemed to just, pulse over everything. I don't know what it was, but I knew being grabbed by it wasn't a good idea. The black tentacles that had tried to grab Cole didn't approach us at first. I think they were only there to grab things that didn't have Oni blood. I felt like at any moment, though, they'd suddenly turn and decide I was their next target. We had to get to the Realm Crystal as fast as we could.

Everyone around us was frozen. It was like the life had been drained out of them. They were pale and blue, and they had these purple veins all over them. One of the first ones I even found was Cyrus Borg. Seeing him like that was horrifying. The Oni werne't destroying people, they were poisoning them. It reminded me of when Skylor had used my father's power. It hurt anyone who touched it. I wanted to get them out of there. I demanded that we help get Borg out of there. I thought if we got him back to Wu, he could make something to help him.

To show me just how far my father had fallen, Garmadon refused. He acted like I was an idiot for wanting to. I guess, in a way, I was. It wasn't a smart idea to go and try something like drag someone who couldn't move with us on our way to destroy something the Oni were pouring out of. But just the way he spoke to me was enough to make me angry. I hated it. I hated hearing his voice. I hated how he acted like I was a child. He was the child. He was acting like all he could do was fight. All he was doing was just making me want to throw him back into his cell. But I knew I needed him.

It wasn't too deep into the darkness that we found two Oni. I'd never seen what Mystake looked like, and from what Syklor described, Mystake was the exception and not the rule. They had faces that looked like the masks, which I guess makes sense. They all looked like black creatures that'd crawled up from the abyss and tried to drag us down. They made my father look like a normal one. I wanted to sneak around, but Garmadon wouldn't let us. Instead, he marched us right to them and told me to attack.

Fighting the Oni felt like fighting my father up on top of Borg Tower. They felt like trying to hit a brick wall, and their magic was enough to throw me off my guard. I didn't even last a few seconds against them before Garmadon had to step in. They were strong enough that even my Spinjitzu just made them blink. I could barely see them too, since they blended into the darkness so well. I could really only see my own power and my father. And even that was… well. That was hard to really understand. They were powerful. And I had to be saved from them. Saved by _him_.

He claimed the only reason he did was because two of us were better than one. I don't know why I kept hoping there was more than that. I thought maybe ther ewas some part of him taht still cared, but that was stupid to think, apparently. I shouldn't have thought about that. He just dragged me into Borg Tower and told me to get going. We were heading right into the heart of it.

The deeper we got towards the Realm Crystal, the less and less like Ninjago it looked. Without the light, you could only see different shades of darkness. The tentacles that were coming from the Realm crystal were all over the walls, but they didn't look like shadows. It was like the closer we got to their magic, their magic was just getting stronger and stronger. I don't know why. But it was like something out of a nightmare. Being underground, with almost no light to see, and being surrounded by demons that wanted to pick you off from the shadows… I don't know how anyone can stand it.

When we finally got to the Realm Crystal, it felt like we'd been walking for hours, even if it hadn't been much time at all, really. It wasn't even the Realm Crystal at that point. It was pitch black, and shadows were just pouring from it like a fountain. The room felt like the magic was at its strongest, and I could barely breathe. Standing near the thing felt like trying to stand up when being hit with a wave. I knew that was it. That was what we had to stop.

If only it was that easy. My father tried to hit it, but that was when he emerged. The Omega. The leader of the Oni. I don't know anything about him. He was the strongest of all of the Oni, though. He tossed aside emy father like a doll, and when I tried to fight him, he punched me so hard out of Spinjitzu I felt like he'd broken all my ribs. If my father was a monster, that thing was an eldritch horror. I could barely make out what he said. All I know is he told us if we were the protectors of this realm, we would fall. And with my father, the man that had nearly killed me, beaten in just a few hits, I thought that might be possible. We were in the belly of the beast, and that thing was ready to devour us like he had everyone else in the city.

The Omega wasn't like the other Oni. He was like a wall. No matter what we did, we couldn't beat him. Normally, being beaten up is not something I'm really all that scared of, but seeing my father getting beaten up, the man that summoned the Colossus, I knew we were screwed. He shrugged a blast of my father's power, the same one that nearly blew me off Borg Tower, right off like it was something like a slap in the face. It was always that which let him throw me into the next room, where I found the Sword of Sanctuary. He also was able to completely shrug off me trying to use it on him too, in case you were wondering.

I was, however, able to destroy the Realm Crystal. It wasn't really as dramatic as I thought it would be. I don't regret doing it, even if it didn't help. Apparently, it was just opening the gate, and since the Omega was already here, it wasn't worth shutting it. I guess it was like closing off the floodgates before the flood. We had basically already lost, in his eyes.

Just to show us how outclassed we were, the Omega showed that he was the one summoning the Oni by making that weird smoke stuff just, spawn the things. That was when my father told me that we should run. We kept going through all these artifacts we'd given to Borg to keep safe. I have to remember to tell Borg to make the walls able to withstand the power my father was putting out, since he was just blowing right through each one.

The only reason we survived was because we ended up accidentally backing our way into the room with the Golden Armor. I picked it up and realized that we could use it against the Oni. And… now that I think about it… the fact I was able to touch it was, pretty stunning. I mean, I guess maybe it wasn't at full power? Like, the Golden Master had used most of its power, right? But, I dunno. I understand my father being able to hold it, since he's Oni and the FSM who made them was only part Oni. But I should have just, popped out of existence the moment I touched them. Maybe my power made me safe? I don't know. I wasn't thinking straight. We were deep underground, surrounded by Oni, and had nothing left. The fact they were cowering from the Golden Armor was important enough to just grab it and run.

We managed to get out of the building, at which point Pixal picked us up. The ninja had gone off to save the people at the NGTV station, so Pixal stayed behind to grab us. Since apparently we can't just get away without issues, she was almost out of fuel too. She even waited until we were literally being dogpiled by Oni to grab us and fly us into the air. And then nearly crashed into Borg Tower. It was kinda just, well, her adding to a tense situation. We've made sure that we never go into any battle without full fuel now.

And now… I have to address this. So, the only people that know about this are the people we saved from the NGTV building, but during the evacuation, Cole was on a ladder from helping people up. We found out earlier the switch to turn on the thrusters was wired wrong, so pushing forward made it go backwards. Nya hit it forward and caused the thruster to point right at Cole, then pulled it back and caused Cole to get blown completely off into the cloud. Given that he fell from the top of a skyscraper, and was blown off into the darkness… he should be dead.

Okay. So this is sorta like with Cole being a ghost. I want to really sit here and be respectful. I really do. But I don't know how Cole survived that. We all went into the end of this, thinking he was dead. And I was hurt. I didn't know what to think. It was like one last gut punch after everything else. And that hurt. A lot. But he didn't stay dead. And so it makes this whole episode… kinda, weird, in retrospect. What is it with Cole and nearly dying/turning into things on us?

Like, I thought about it, and I don't have much to say. I thought he died. I was hurt just like with Mystake and Harumi. He came back a few hours later. Somehow. And that's really it. I can't even really understand how he did. Nd, I feel kinda bad for saying it, cause I know that it wasn't a good experience for him. But he just was okay in the end1 how? I don't know! And just… I guess maybe I'm a bit sick of feeling like everyone around me is always in danger like that? I was already dealing with the Oni, I didn't need that on top of it.

What really made it upsetting was my father telling us to immediately start going back to work. He didn't care that Cole had died. He just brushed off everything we were feeling, and said that we had to survive. We had to take the armor and do something. It didn't matter to him that Cole had died. We were just people helping him. He didn't care. And that's when it really set in for me that he wasn't even really a person anymore. He didn't have the ability to feel things. Harumi really had just brought back a shadow of who he was. And him saying we had to keep going, that we just had to survive… I snapped at him and stormed off.

While I was grieving over Cole's (apparent) death, I had to just accept it. That Garmadon wasn't someone I could trust anymore. I couldn't even really see him as a person. It was just, a shell of who he was. He wasn't even really my father, but I saw him that way. I thought of him as my father. And that angered me. We'd lost to the Omega, barely survived, Cole was gone, and all of Ninjago was going to get covered in darkness and get completely swallowed up by the Oni. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have any ideas. And the fact this felt like what it was like when I was fighting my father in the city didn't help things at all!

When Kai came to me and said he had a plan to reforge the Golden Weapons, I didn't really care. I was numb to things. It wasn't just Cole, but more so a lot of things. It was all these things hitting me at once, refusing to let up after all this time. Since Harumi had come into my life, I thought maybe, just maybe, I had a chance to relax. Even if this entire time, I thought that my father wasn't lying about something coming. But now it was here, and we were losing. It was all just happening so fast. The fact this was all in the span of one day didn't help things, at all.

You know, maybe the reason I don't think a lot about how Cole nearly died was because other than those few minutes I had on the Bounty while we were running away, I didn't really have anytime to think. From the moment that I got on the Bounty to when the Oni showed up at the Monastery is all sort of like one giant blur. And I think that's because the Oni were just that strong. When we got back to the Monastery, we only had enough time to tell Wu what happened, then Kai had to get right to reforging the weapons.

So, two things. Firstly, I thought that Garmadon seeing Wu and Misako like this again would be more of a thing. Since, well, the last time he'd seen Wu he was a young man returning from the First REalm, and Misako had been captured for most of the time he was in power. All they really said to each other was… a few small things, and then we were moving to it. I guess that's just how stressed we were. I guess I was expecting him to go and try to fight Wu, sorta like how he fought us to get his power back. I guess it just wasn't important to him. And it was true that Harumi didn't care to bring back his love for his wife either.

The second thing is about the weapons. Now, I'm impressed Kai was able to do that. I mean, to be honest, the fact he used to be a blacksmith hardly ever came up in the temple. We had most of our weapons just, sorta produced by Wu. But I think what's really shocking here to me is that Kai did it in such a short amount of time. The weapons he made weren't any jokes either. He infused them with each of our elemental powers to restore them to what they used to be. There was barely enough gold for them, and I guess the reason he was able to do it was because the Golden Master really had depleted some of their power since Kai was also holding them. Or maybe Zane… ugh, I don't know. I don't know why I'm even focusing so much on this. But him remaking the Golden Weapons to fight the Oni was a smart move. It was the smartest thing we could've done.

And then… the Oni were there. They were marching on the temple. Like I said, barely any time at all. We went outside and vowed to make our stand. They couldn't come past the gates. Wu and Garmadon came out to help us. Mom wanted to help, but I made her stay inside to help the others. Faith came out to help us too. Kai gave the Scythe of Quakes to Nya to use. We didn't have time to mourn Cole. We had to move on and fight them. If the Oni overtook us here, that was it. We'd fall, and Ninjago would be it.

So… I've thought a lot about why I consider this to be my last adventure. And, I think it's because it feels final, in a way. After everything that happened to me, this feels like the end of a lot of things. It was the last time that I saw my father. It was the last big fight for the fate of Ninjago that I've taken part in. I guess, in a way, the Oni were the last thing that was tying us to the First Spinjitzu Master.

Like, okay, I might be reaching here, but I thought a lot about this. Ever since the start, this had been about Garmadon. He'd been the reason that I opened the tombs. He drove me to become the Green Ninja, and then I drove him to the Dark Island. The Golden Master was the last attempt by the Overlord to fight us for a destiny that was based on his unfinished fight with the FSM. Chen and Morro were both tied into Wu and Garmadon's past. The Time Twins were directly a result of the Serpentine Wars. And then, finally, Harumi came along thanks to my actions in opening the tombs, and brought my father back. It was like everything, in some way, tied back into my father. And given how this ended, I felt like this… this was it. It was the ending. This was the threat to Ninjago that we had to stop, no matter what. And, well, this battle wasn't that long… but it meant everything. The battle was a big blur aside from a few moments… I'll talk about what I remember.

The Oni were all coming for us. My father took on the Omega, and I lost sight of him. They were everywhere. No matter how many you threw back, another one was there to fight us. I kept losing track of my friends. We kept having to fight to thin their numbers. Nya couldn't use the Scythe, so I was trying to give her backup. I almost lost my head trying to save her before Wu helped us out.

Cole came back in his driller and we gave him the Scythe. I had no idea what to think. I was kinda a mix of confused, happy, scared, elated, all of that stuff. Or, is elated even a word I'm supposed to use? Either way, he was back. We were all together again. I thought we could fight as a team again.

My father was fighting the Omega. I could hear it down there. It sounded like when I fought him on the tower. He was giving it his all, and showing all the power he possibly could summon. I was still being swarmed by Oni. Faith threw a few off me and let me jump around just in time to see my father being blasted up the mountain. He had this weird Oni face when I ran over to see if he was okay. I don't know why I was worried, but that got me blasted off into the gates.

The Oni kept coming. We held out at the gate, but it was too much for us. If not even my father could take down the Omega now, we were screwed. We retreated inside the gates and sealed them. I wonder if that's what it felt like for Wu when the Time Twins came for them. The Oni were smashing against the gates and working to get in. Their darkness was already trying to get over the wall to attack us. It was horrifying and felt like the end.

Jay asked Nya to be his Yang. He thought it was going to be his last chance to do it. I don't blame him. We were all that remained in Ninjago, it seemed. I was looking around for something. We needed something to turn the Oni back. We had to. That's when I saw the painting of the Tornado of Creation. The Omega had said he was the bringer of destruction. We would have to face it. I told the others we had to use the Tornado of Creation. Kai was the only one who protested at first, but once the Oni broke the gate, we didn't have a choice.

I tried to get my father to join us. We all had to. He refused. I told him he was as much apart of Ninjago's history as the rest of us. The Oni were already pouring into the Monastery. I didn't have time to argue with him. We all came together to do the Tornado. I'd never done it before, but I knew how. Wu joined in with us. I could feel everyone's power around me as we tried to come together, but it wasn't enough. For a few moments, I thought we didn't have enough.

Then, for a brief moment, I thought I felt my father's power. I think he joined us. He wanted to help us win. I don't know why, but I was happy when I felt that. But that was only for a moment. The moment we were all connected, I suddenly didn't feel anything anymore. Everything went white, and it was like I was surrounded by a cloud. I couldn't feel anything, nothing at all. The others were giving it everything they had. The last thing I remember hearing was the Omega roaring in anger at us.

And then, I died.

When the tornado ended, the Ninja said they found me under the gate chunks. When Wu felt my body, he said I was gone. That I had died. Somehow, the attack had taken everything from me. From what I understand, the Golden Weapons used all the power they had left, along with the Tornado of Creation, to channel it to destroy the Oni. The Omega fell, and with it all his darkness. The city and all the darkness in it returned to normal the moment that we made that attack. We'd beaten the Oni, at the cost of my life.

...I feel… I feel that's not it, though. I… I don't know why. I've had dreams of this. I… I was in this… this place, some, some green field. And… and there was a dragon… or… something. And then, I saw someone. I… I don't know why, but I think it was the FSM. I don't know what he said. I, don't even think I ever saw his face. But… but I know he was holding his hand out to me. Somehow… in that dream, in that way, he'd… he'd done something for me. He was… he was offering me something. I… I think…

...I don't know. The ninja told me that it's just a dream, and I hit my head hard. But, Wu said that all of a sudden, it was like all the life I had just rushed back into my body. Like, I was just revived from the dead. Somehow, it happened. And… I don't know what it was. I wish I did. I've tried to think about it… but nobody can explain it. All Wu said was that he knew that for a few moments, I stopped being with them. And then, I was alive again. I'm trying to think of how, but I don't know. And… for some reason… I think what I heard in my dream, was really important.

When I woke up, though, my father was gone. Wu said he slipped away while I was just waking up. After everything that happened, he left. My father had taken over the city, hunted me, killed Harumi and Mystake, fought me and fought along side us in the final battle and then… he just left. He walked out of my life just like that. He's out there, somewhere, in Ninjago. And one day… I think that I might see him again.

I don't know why, but him just leaving after that feels… fitting. Almost like, him just leaving like that was what he was supposed to do all along. I don't get it, though. Why he was fighting with us in that last attack, I mean. Why? He said he didn't care. He'd shown me already that he didn't have empathy for us. He didn't care for anything other than surviving. Was it because he wanted to survive? Or, was it something else? I know he gave us the final push to finish the tornado. He… he helped save Ninjago. And then he left. If I could ask him something, one last thing, that would be it. Why he helped us.

But having him just walk away has left me with a lot of questions. I don't know what he's doing now. I don't know if he's planning something, or just exploring things. Is he out there, helping someone? Plotting to take over? Thinking about me? He isn't, the man I wanted. And I know if he stayed around, I'd keep getting angry that he wasn't him. I'd keep being upset that he was still acting like this. He would be a lingering reminder that Harumi, was always there. She'd always have that influence on me. No matter what. And, maybe we'd be able to overcome that? Maybe. But, would it have been a good idea to try? Or… or am I just… sad that I never was able to spend time with him again? Did the man that tried to kill me… make me feel lonely again?

Well… with him aside, that was it. Ninjago was saved. We'd beaten back the Oni. We painted a new entry on the wall in the Monastery. After everything that happened, that was it. We'd won. It was… it was over. It, really was over. Everything since Wu had vanished had finally come to its end. And… I was the Green Ninja, again.

And… that's where I'm ending it. That's where I'm ending this story. That's where I'm ending it. There's a lot left in my life. I know there is. But that's where I feel that I want to end this book. Maybe I'll add to this later on. I'm still young, after all. But, right now, that's what I wanted to say. From the start of this… this is where I wanted to end it. And I guess, there's just one more thing left for me to say. It's time for the epilogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, we have hit the end of the story! I have the epilogue queued up for next week!
> 
> As I mentioned before, I decided to end this one at S10 for a few reasons. The first one was that at the time I started, Season 11 hadn't aired yet. But more over, I felt that S10 was the end of a lot of things. I think post S10 has been a different era for the show. While I still love and enjoy it, I just didn't think it translated that well into this format. I may go later on and make smaller appendices to this, with him reflecting over and entire season later, but right now I wanted to close the book on this before I ended up falling into the trap of never having an end goal for this story. Stay tuned for the epilogue!


	48. Epilogue

You know, now that I've finished this, I realize that it might be a bit strange to call this an Autobiography. Most of these types of books cover someone's entire life. When I really think about it, I haven't covered a lot of time. I'm barely even an adult. But, somehow, I managed to get forty-something chapters out of it. Maybe that's just a sign of some kind. Well, one thing's for sure though: Even after writing all of this, I still stand by what I said in the beginning. I still think that Morro had a point.

Like I said in the last chapter, I want to end this book here. It's not along book, but this is what's important to me. This is where I think, it's smart to stop it. If I decided to keep writing now, I'd never finish it. I feel like, I've finally said it. I've said all of what I wanted to say. And now, it's time for me to go and finally finish what I started. It's time to end this book.

I'm never going to stop having adventures. I'm a ninja, and, well, we don't quit. Even if we maybe want to. Through all of my adventures, all of the time I've spent with my friends, I've learned that it's never enough to just want something to end. It's never enough to just want to make something happen. You have to do both. You have to want it, and work to make something happen. Through everything, I've always known that. I've known that I have to keep pushing.

At first, I think the only reason that I pushed was because I was the Green Ninja. I did it because that was just, what was expected of me. I had to be the savior of Ninjago. But that's not who I am now. Being the Green Ninja isn't about, being Ninjago's savior. I have to be the person that saves Ninjago. I have to be the person that will carry Ninjago forward. I have to do this, above anything else. I made a promise that I would protect this land. Being the Green Ninja is my symbol of that. People will remember the Green Ninja.

But I can't rely on that. I'll never be able to say that I'm strong because I'm the Green Ninja. All this time, I've thought about being strong because I have that title. Maybe that's why I had so many issues with finding who I was. I thought for so long that being the Green Ninja was it. That was what I had to be. That's what I should be. But, having that symbol stripped away by my father was enough to make me realize that, that's not all there is to me. I'm not the Green Ninja. I'm Lloyd Garmadon. I'm the son of Lord Garmadon, I'm a member of the ninja, and I help protect Ninjago. Those are what make up the Green Ninja. But I am not the Green Ninja. The Green Ninja, is me.

I thought, maybe I'd know more of what I wanted to say when I wrote this epilogue. I guess after reading all this, you must think I really don't want to protect Ninjago. I've complained a lot about how much I've lost. I've made a big deal about how many times I've been hurt, my father changed me, how the ninja changed me… how destiny pulled me around and threw me for a loop whenever I thought I finally had a grip on it. I know that, after all my freakouts you probably think that I hate being the Green Ninja. And, I can't exactly say that's, entirely untrue. There have been times I've hated it.

But that doesn't mean that I regret this. I don't regret my life. I don't look back and wish that I'd been someone else. Because I know that there was only one person who could be the Green Ninja. If I wasn't it, then Ninjago would have fallen. But more than that, I wouldn't have become the person I am today. I've hurt, a lot. I've gone through things that nobody else should have to. But at the end of the day, I know that I'm who I need to be. I'm Lloyd Garmadon. I'm the only one who can say that he is. And, that's what's important.

And I think, right now I want to take a moment to say something. Specifically, to the ninja. Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, Nya… thank you. Thank you for every single day that you've helped me. Thank you for never abandoning me. Thank you for guiding me even when I thought I couldn't go on. Thanks for making me feel like I had to get better so I could lead you guys. Thank you for never turning your back on me. You all mean so much to me. I don't think I'd ever have done this without you. You guys give me the strength to do things that I'll never be able to.

Thank you, Master Wu. I know that I've spent a lot of time in this book kinda, railing you for things. And I know that I haven't said much good. But that doesn't mean I'm ungrateful. I know that you were doing what you thought was right. You guided me to becoming who I am. Even if you make mistakes, we're your ninja. We'll be here to help you. No matter what happens, you can always rely on us. You're our Master, and I can't ever forget that.

Thank you, people of Ninjago. I know you haven't always been the kindest to us, and I guess sometimes I take you for granted too. But I know that you guys care. You showed us that with how you celebrated everything we've done for you after we took back the city from my father. Thank you Skylor, Griffin, Shade, Tox, Neuro, Paleman, for coming to help us when we had nothing left. Thank you, Mystake, for guiding me. Thank you, Ronin, Commissioner, Mother Doomsday, Pixal, you all have given us so much even if we probably don't deserve it. Even you, Morro. Thank you for showing me parts of myself I didn't know I had. You helped me grow in ways that I don't think you know you did.

Thank you, Dareth. Never let anyone say you're not the greatest ninja out there. You stuck by me when everyone else was too scared to. You saved my life by taking control of the freaking Stone Army. You gave me a place to train, and a friend to rely on. I know that if I need help from someone one day, you'll be at the top of the list.

Thank you, Mom. I know that you did what you did for my sake. Even if I don't agree with it, I know that you loved me no matter what. You left me behind… but you did come back. And you've tried to be there for me. I appreciate that. Just please stop flirting with Wu.

And finally… thank you, dad. I know right now, if you're reading this, you won't get why I'm thanking you. But I want you to hear this. Out of everyone in Ninjago, you're the one that pushed me to become who I am. You believed in me more than anyone. You loved me, guided me, fought evil itself and came back from it all so you could help me. We didn't have each other for a long time. I'm going to grow up most of my life without you. But every day we spent together, is one that I can't forget. I'll never be able to forget what you said to me in the Cursed realm. I'll never forget that you gave me your robes and told me to become the Sensei that I was meant to be. I… I'm so thankful that you were there. You… you were always there for me. You were trying to save me, even when you were fighting me. You weren't able to destroy me, even when your own blood was telling you to. And you loved me. You loved me more than anyone else. I'm… I'm just so glad that I got to meet you like that. I'm so glad I got to have you in my life like you were. I love you, dad. I love you so much. If whatever parts of you Harumi left behind can hear me… please, don't ever forget that. I love you so much, dad.

…

And I think that's everything. That's, all I had to say. I'm going to keep going on adventures. Maybe one day, I'll write another book, a sequel to this one. But right now, I don't think I will. I'm going to go out and keep growing. One day, I'll be a Sensei, just like my father. One day, I'll live up to what he wanted for me. But until that day, I'm going to keep protecting Ninjago. I'm going to protect all of you that are reading this book. I'll be the Green Ninja. That's who I'll be. And no matter what, I'll never stop fighting.

Because ninja never quit.

_ **~~~~~~~~~AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A LEGEND~~~~~~~~~** _

* * *

"...Because ninja never quit," Lloyd finished, putting the finished book down on the table.

Lloyd was in his normal chair, but today he wasn't recording. Today, he was reading. For the last three days, he'd done nothing but read the book to his friends. Squished into and around the couch that they normally sat in were all of the ninja. Kai and Cole were fighting for space, while Jay was half sitting on the back of the couch, half on their shoulder.s Zane and Nya had opted to stand behind the couch, with Nya leaning over it by Jay. All of them had spent hours letting him finish out the book.

Lloyd looked down at the table. In front of him was the book. It was completely green all around, with a glossy finish around it. The words _AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A LEGEND_ were printed across the cover, with the subtitle _The Story by and of the Green Ninja _underneath it. On the cover was a picture of him in the first Green Ninja outfit he'd ever put on, posing with his hands on his hips and a golden sun behind him. In the sunlight around him was the ninja on dragons, Wu, Misako, Pixal and (specifically Lloyd's request) Dareth wearing the Helmet of Shadows. In the shadow the sun cast around his feet, the figures of Garmadon, Chen, Morro, the Time Twins, Harumi and the glowing eyes of the Overlord could be seen. After all this time, the book was finally finished.

"And… that's that," Lloyd sighed, reaching out to pick up a bottle of water to soothe his throat after talking for so long, "This is the draft that they're going to send out to be printed. I uh… I left in, everything but anytime I said something dirty. I… I wanted to get yours guys' opinion on it, before I give them the go ahead."

For a few moments, nobody said anything. Lloyd felt a small wave of anxiousness rise up inside of him. He looked to Zane, who had on his happy neutral expression as he always did. Kai and Cole were still settling in, even after all this time. Jay looked somewhat lost in thought. Nya was looking down at them expectantly. After a few moments of tense silence, Cole finally broke it.

"Just to be clear here, I survived because I fell through a building where the darkness hadn't gotten into yet," Cole declared slightly smugly, "And Lloyd's seen how tough I am. You'd have to drop me from _three_ of those things before I even felt a thing."

"Oh what?!" Kai turned to Cole fiercely, "No way! I'd survive at least four of those! I'd just use my fire to slow down before I hit the ground!"

"I do not believe you could generate enough thrust in the opposite direction to avoid a collision," Zane informed Kai, "Factoring in your terminal velocity, you would likely hit the ground before you could overcome gravity's effects and avoid a lethal impact. Cole likely survived by hitting floors on the way down to reduce the final impact."

"Ugh, boys!" Nya turned to Lloyd, "We're not talking about that now! What about his book?"

"His book?" Jay blinked, "I think it's great!" Lloyd felt the tightness in his chest unwind.

"I mean, I already heard part of it," Kai smirked, "So I knew that it had to be good from what you guys told me."

"I mean, hearing all of that is like… a lot," Cole shook his head, "But yeah, it's great! Bestseller!"

"Really…?" Lloyd blinked, "You guys mean that? You… don't think it's too like… angry?"

"How many times have we told you?" Nya smirked, "It's your life. You tell the people what you want to tell them."

"Yeah!" Kai chimed in, "I mean, you finished an entire book! That's bigger than anything I've ever written."

"You never even write!" Jay protested.

"Which means it's _obviously_ longer!" Kai grinned, "See, Jay?"

"I believe Jay was attempting to insult your writing skills," Zane chuckled.

"I got that!" Kai snapped, "And don't you worry. After seeing him do his, I've already started on _my_ autobiography."

"Let me guess, you've just got done talking about how you single handedly saved Ninjago from Lord Garmadon?" Cole rolled his eyes.

"Uh, for the record, I'm already talking about the stuff with the Devourer! And I just started a month ago! So I think I'm doing really well!" Kai shot back at Cole.

As the group bickered amongst themselves, Lloyd couldn't help but feel a warmth in his chest. Part of him had thought they'd criticize him. They'd each heard parts of it, but not the whole thing. He'd just spent all this time reading it to them, just so they could hear it. Even after all this time of them assuring him that it'd be perfect, that he'd be fine, he thought maybe, just maybe, they'd say something now that it was done. Seeing them arguing like this wasn't what he expected, but for some reason, it took a weight off his chest.

"So, when does it go into print?" Nya asked.

"Well, this is the test book," Lloyd lifted it up, "I'm keeping this copy. I pulled some strings and I should have it on store shelves next printing cycle, or something like that. Zane was the one that took care of setting the deal up."

"The company was happy to be given the privilege to print a book by the Green Ninja," Zane informed them, "They were willing to give him the creative liberties as well to publish it as he initially envisioned it."

"Wow, that's awesome, Lloyd!" Nya turned to face Lloyd again, "I'll make sure to buy a copy once it hits the shelves!"

"Same here!" Jay chimed in.

"I'll buy one before you!" Cole countered.

"Just order it online!" Kai patted his chest, "Like _I'm_ going to."

"I will make sure to place an order once available." Zane nodded.

"You… you guys will?" Lloyd felt that tightness in his chest return, only this one wasn't from anxiety, "I… I mean, I thought you'd just want to read it, but…"

"Hold that thought!" Cole leapt up, "We got something for you!"

"What?" Lloyd blinked. Cole just smiled and left the room. When he came back a minute later, he was wheeling a massive cake on a small cart. Once he pulled it over the lip to the door, the others quickly stood up from the couch so Cole could wheel it up and onto the table. The cake was white with green frosting, with a crudely drawn image of him in his Green Ninja suit in the middle. Lloyd stared at it in total disbelief until Kai came up from behind him and threw his arm around Lloyd's shoulder.

"Congrats on finishing this thing, man," Kai gestured to the cake, "Finishing a book is no small deal. You worked hard on this thing."

"So… you got me a cake?" Lloyd asked in shock.

"Well, that's not all," Cole waved his hand, "Come on, show it to him!"

Zane bent down and reached under the couch, dragging something up. In his hand was a sword. It was the same curved style he'd taken up after Wu's disappearance. The sword, however, was not just a simple one. Along the hilt were letters etched in green that spelled out Lloyd Garmadon. Along the length of the blade were more letters. Lloyd picked the sword up, feeling that it was as premium of a blade as it could be. When he looked down to read the letters, however, he spoke them with disbelief.

"'Ninja Never Quit,'" Lloyd blinked, "You guys… made me this?"

"Well, you lost your sword when you fought the Oni, right?" Kai nodded, "We were _gonna_ save it for your birthday, but since your book is all about being the Green Ninja… well you can't be that without a sword!"

"I still say we should've saved it for his birthday!" Jay hissed to Cole, "How are we going to top that?"

"We'll figure it out when that comes around, Jay!" Cole hissed back to him, giving him a hard thump.

"I will cut the cake if we are all ready," Zane informed them, producing a cake knife from under the table. The room quickly gave affirmation.

"You… you guys…." Lloyd inhaled, "You… you really liked the book? I… I mean, I thought maybe it was, well…"

"Lloyd," Zane turned to him, "Your book is what you want it to be. All of us agreed to help you because we knew this meant something to you. Now that you've finished it, we wish to show you that we know how much it took for you to make it. You thanked us, now let us thank you."

"Guys!" Jay quickly gasped, "Group picture!"

All at once, the room lit up in affirmations. Lloyd found himself squished up with his friends by his side. Kai pulled Lloyd's arms up to hold the sword so the inscription on it could be read. Kai and Jay both took spots by his side, while Zane, Nya and Cole all got behind him. Kai pulled out his phone and raised it into the air, setting it to take a selfie. As they all got together for the picture, all Lloyd could feel was a warm happiness inside him.

"Alright, everyone!" Lloyd nodded, "On the count of three!" Everyone squished in close to be seen in the picture, "One! Two! Three!" All of them took a breath.

"NINJA-GO!"

Kai snapped the picture. Instantly, they all crowded around to see what was on the screen. The picture was as perfect as it could be in Lloyd's eyes. As they all looked at the screen, the book that Lloyd had finished sat on the table in front of them. As they all celebrated its finish, the book stood there with them. As Lloyd found himself laughing and eating cake with his friends, the final chapter in it was finished. The Autobiography of a Legend had come to its close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, almost fourteen months later, we finally bring this story to a close.
> 
> When I first started this one, I meant it only as a side project. I was writing Ninjaverse, my other ongoing fic, full time and thought I wanted to have something for other readers that had a lower barrier to entry, so to speak. This was always meant to be just a one shot with the prologue, maybe a few extra chapters after that, and just going until I finally got bored of it. Instead, I ended up finding a strange affection for the fic, and I'd take nights I set aside to write NV to instead write this one. I let myself take hiatuses and breaks with this one as well, even if I wanted to post consistently. I could have done this all in one year if I hadn't taken time off. But now, the fic is done. Well, and truly, done.
> 
> My plan right now is to let the fic lie. Ninjago is on the cusp of S14 right now, and just about to celebrate 10 years of exiting. That, to me, is incredible. But S10 always felt like he place to stop, and so I have. I'm going to let the fic lie for a long while. Maybe, maybe, one day I might come back and write more epilogues, but I don't think so. I want my story to end, not go on without a clear point.
> 
> I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to read this story. It means a lot to me that this silly fic ended up becoming nearly as popular as my main one. Thank you in particular to calumTraveler, who has been commenting on each and every chapter from the very start. It's support like that which really helped on nights that I didn't quite know where to go with the story, or times I didn't understand what I wanted to do with it. Everyone who read the fic, though, thank you. Thank you for your time and support.
> 
> It's now that I ask if you're interested in it, to please check out my other two main fics: The Furthest Realm and Enter the Ninjaverse. The former looks into what would happen if Lloyd truly fell for Akita in S11, wheras the later is a multi-universe spanning action thriller about attempting to stop the Time Twins from destroying of them mean a lot to me, and I would appreciate your time. But if this is the last time you read my story, just knowing you've read this far is more than enough to make me happy.
> 
> Thank you all for reading, and NINJAAAAAAAAA-GO!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Autobiography of a Legend(PODFIC)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28171167) by [WhaleKingdom (BadFeelin)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadFeelin/pseuds/WhaleKingdom)


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